Eyes of a Rock Star
by Tyson FoxFlame
Summary: [AU][Yamachi] Being a star has been Tai's dream for as long as he can recall. But when he gets a chance to, will it be what he thought? Not a chance. But what if the lead singer fell for him? A new world would be seen, through the eyes of a rock star.
1. Prologue: How It All Began

Yes, a new fic! I know, need to work on my others! But swear to god, this one HAD HAD HAD HAD HAD to come out. Now hopefully it'll be as successful as I hope. This is another Taito. This is an AU. I can't really think of any warnings for this chapter. For now, the rating will be PG-13, may have some R rated parts though as the story moves on. It's going to start out at first in present time. Then the boys are going to tell a story so all of the chapters except for ½ of this one and the last one will be set in the past. Um, ok, here we go!

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the Digimon characters, but I do own the OCs and the plotline.

Warnings: Cussing (like in a lot of my fics) and AU.

* * *

"And the winner for best new artist is…The Teenage Wolves!" The MC announced upon opening the envelope. Five young men arose from their seats at the 2004 Grammy Awards in Hollywood, California and approached the stage. They walked up the stairs and stood on the stage, the youngest one with wild brown hair making a grab for the award. The blonde lead singer approached the microphone to give their acceptance speech. 

"Good evening, everybody," the blonde said, smiling to the crowd as cheers flared through the air, along with the occasional, "We Love You, Matt!" sign.

"Well, I must say, we are fully honored to have been nominated, much less win the award for Best New Artist," he continued. The wild-haired boy roughly moved him out of the way and grinned.

"Oh come on, Matt. You know we totally deserved this. I mean, just look at all this love right here, am I right?" The brunet boy focused his grin on the crowd, causing more cheers from the audience. The blonde rolled his eyes and moved the exuberant young boy out of the way.

"But still, thank you all. We love all our fans out there and it's great to know they love us." Matt smiled again.

"It's all about the love, baby!" the brunet stole the microphone again. Matt grabbed the younger boy by the collar and dragged him off the stage while the rest of his band followed and more people applauded. The five boys returned to their seats and sat through the rest of the award ceremony, accepting two more awards: one for Best Record of the Year, and the other for Best Male Pop Performance on Matt's part. After the Grammys were all given out, the boys ran back to their hotel and crashed into their room before any crazy fan girls could catch up to them.

"You **do** realize that most of those fan girls are chasing after you two," the boy with spiky blue hair and tired blue eyes said as he sank onto the bed, directing his comment to the blonde and brunet who were on the other bed.

"Oh come off it, Arial. You've got a few chasing after you too." the boy with messy black hair and green eyes grinned and lightly whacked his comrade on the head as he sat down next to him.

"Shut up, Jetaryane," Arial shot back with a yawn, using the other boy's full name.

"Hey, it's Ryan. You know I can't stand going by my full name," Ryan whined, wrapping his arms around the slightly smaller boy. Arial shook his head and snuggled up into Ryan's lap.

"Are you sure you two aren't together?" the last boy asked, running a hand through his burgundy-colored hair, gazing at the pair on the bed through his cinnamon eyes.

"Positive, Dai. Don't worry about it. Besides, you know Ry's straight." Arial pouted, playing with the other boy's fingers.

"Not to mention has a girlfriend, thanks so much. Speaking of which, shouldn't you two tell your fan club that you two are dating each other?" Ryan asked, directing his comment to the other two boys. Matt shrugged and looked down to the brunet.

"Maybe we should come out into the open tomorrow during the interview?" Matt suggested. The other nodded and yawned.

"Sure, whatever," he said almost inaudibly, curling up and closing his eyes. Matt ran his hand through the wild mass of brown hair and kissed the boy on the forehead.

"Good night, babe," he whispered.

"What happened to his sugar high?" Daisuke asked, flopping down onto the couch they had in their suite.

"He's still young, whether he wants to admit it or not. Let him sleep," Matt replied, watching the younger boy sleep contently.

"I vote we follow his example then," Arial said, not bothering to even get undressed as he crawled under the covers. Ryan nodded and got up, rummaging through his drawers and walking into one of the bathrooms to change. Daisuke dragged himself into the other bathroom and shut the door behind him. Matt smiled at his bandmates' actions and yawned. Carefully, he moved the boy in his lap under the covers and got undressed. He slipped in next to him and turned off the bedside lamp.

* * *

**"Holy shit, we're late!"** Ryan shot straight up as he looked at the clock. Matt slowly opened his eyes and blinked. 

"Wha're you yelling about?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Guys, we're going to be late for our interview!" Ryan exclaimed and attempted to untangle himself from the sheets, kicking Arial in the stomach in the process.

"Hey, watch it!" Arial whined and rolled over, going back to sleep. Ryan sighed in exasperation and grabbed the bluenette by the shoulders.

"Come on Ari, don't do this right now! We gotta get up and going," he said, shaking his best friend around. Arial once again opened his eyes and sat up. He blinked and squinted at the clock.

"Fuck, we **are** late!" Arial yelled as his eyes popped wide open.

"Dude, watch the language," Daisuke said from somewhere on the floor, finally awakening also. Then again, it was kind of hard to sleep with all of the commotion.

"Come on guys, get dressed and let's get going," Matt ordered them and turned to wake up his boyfriend.

"Tai, come on. We have to get up and go to that stupid interview," he said quietly, shaking the brunette gently. Tai mumbled something indecipherable and didn't move.

"Come on, wake up," Matt urged him. Tai slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Matt.

"What?" he yawned, wiping the sleep from his mud-colored eyes.

"Go get dressed, we're going to be late," Matt said, pulling Tai out of bed by the arm.

"I don't wanna go," the younger boy groaned, nearly tripping over the bedding.

"Well, that's too damn bad. We're forced to go," his lover replied, kissing him on the cheek. Tai blinked and opened his drawers.

"This is so dumb," he muttered to himself and grabbed his clothes, walking into the nearest bathroom to change. Matt, who didn't care about where he changed, slipped his shirt up over his head and pulled on a clean one, along with a different pair of jeans. He reached over to his left and grabbed a hairbrush that was left lying on the table.

"Ugh, Ari, next time you use **my** hairbrush, kindly remove **your** blue hair from it," Matt said to no one in particular, picking out the blue pieces of hair.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Arial voiced from behind him, causing the blonde to jump and whirl around. He was wearing a navy blue long-sleeved shirt with a yellow flame design on the front and left sleeve and dark grey cargo pants.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Matt scolded as he ran the hairbrush through his spiky locks a few times.

"Sorry. Where are the others?" Arial asked as he sat on the couch.

"They should get out here soon," Matt replied. With perfect timing, all three of the other boys came tumbling out of the different bathrooms. Ryan was patting down his black hair and Daisuke and Tai were busy trying to untangle themselves.

"Ry, your shirt fits you so well," Arial teased his companion. Ryan was wearing a bright red shirt that said "Slut" across the front of it in black, bold letters, along with a pair of khaki cargo bungee pants.

"Yes, but it fits you better since you go both ways," Ryan shot back skillfully.

"Ooh, touché." Arial smirked. Daisuke got to his feet, fixing the collar of his black short-sleeved button-down shirt. He was also wearing a white tank top under the shirt along with regular blue jeans. He pulled the last member of the band up to his feet.

"That hurt," Tai stated bluntly, rubbing the back of his head. He was wearing a dark green T-shirt with a black star in the center, outlined in red.

"Hey you, those are **my** pants," Matt said to him, wrapping his arms around Tai.

"Why do you think I'm wearing a belt?" the brunet stuck his tongue out playfully. He had on Matt's baggy khaki pants held up with a black double-row pyramid belt.

"Are you implying that I'm fat?" Matt answered him with another question, pretending to be offended.

"No, of course not, Yama," Tai smiled innocently.

"Come on guys, save the lovey-dovey crap for later. We gotta go," Daisuke interrupted them, dragging the other four members out into the hall of the hotel.

"Are you out to make my life miserable, Dai?" Tai questioned as they headed for the elevator.

"Of course. After all, what would your mother say if she knew you were dating such an older man?" Daisuke teased him. Tai thumped him on the head lightly.

"More like what would she say if she knew I was dating a man, period." Tai rolled his eyes. The group piled into the elevator and headed to the ground floor. They were supposed to meet a reporter for YM magazine in one of the conference rooms. The five boys walked into the closest one and found a young woman with brown skin sitting in an office chair. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with many pockets and a navy blue shirt with a picture of a cat that read "Purrfect Paws Nail Salon. Manicure-$25.00 Pedicure-$30 Acrylics-$20 Polish-$15." in pink letters. She had a pair of sunglasses perched on top of her head and a small recorder and notepad.

"I'm willing to bet that you're the Teenage Wolves?" she asked them, standing up upon their arrival.

"That's us," Matt spoke up, one arm still wrapped around Tai's waist while shaking hands with the girl using his other hand.

"Nice to finally meet you all. I'm Neesha Davis. Welcome." she smiled. Everyone sat down around the oval-shaped table.

"So, how were the Grammys last night, guys?" she inquired, tucking some of her black and pink hair behind her ear.

"They were so awesome!" Tai exclaimed abruptly. Matt elbowed him in the ribs slightly while the other three laughed. Neesha smiled at his enthusiasm and turned on the recorder.

"Well boys, here's the deal. Our whole Star section is dedicated to you this month. So we wanted to get the whole story all about you," she explained.

"Okay. What would you like to know?" Ryan asked.

"Let's start with the stats. Full names?" she countered, letting the recorder pick up the entire conversation.

"Yamato Ishida and most people call me Matt."

"Arial Natsaki. Sometimes I go by Ari."

"Jetaryane Kinomita and I strictly go by Ryan."

"Daisuke Motamiya. Just Daisuke works."

"Taichi Yagami. I go by Tai."

"Okay, ages?" Neesha moved onto the next question.

"Arial, Ryan and I are all 19, Daisuke is 18 and Tai is almost 17," Matt answered for all of them.

"Matt, we **can** talk ya know," Ryan reprimanded the other boy.

"Status?" Neesha asked.

"What do you mean by status?"

"Are you dating anybody?" she clarified. Tai and Matt looked at each other and grinned.

"Tai and Matt are together," Daisuke explained for them.

"Aw, that's so cute!" Neesha exclaimed. "What about the rest of you?" she inquired.

"Well, Ari's a little slut," Ryan said playfully.

"Am not!" Arial stuck his tongue out. He turned to Neesha and shook his head.

"I'm attached as well," he told her.

"And Bi," Daisuke added.

"Tell the whole world Dais." Arial rolled his eyes.

"Well, it's true isn't it? And you don't even care. Besides, you have a boyfriend. Might as well clear the air," Daisuke argued.

"True." Neesha laughed at their antics and shook her head.

"All right, now down to the big things. How did you all become a band? Like, the entire story of what has happened over the past year," she said, declaring what she wanted.

"It's a long story," Matt retorted.

"And I have plenty of time and tapes," Neesha countered back. Matt nodded and started to tell his story.

"It all started about this time last year when we needed an extra guitarist..."

* * *

Matt Ishida was sitting in a recliner in the living room of the apartment he lived in, along with three other guys. Two of them were home with him, and the other was still at school, seeing as how he was finishing up his last year. He glanced over to the couch where the other two boys were sitting, playing a racing game on the Playstation 2. 

"Have either of you had any luck finding an extra guitarist?" he asked his friends. The blue-haired boy just shook his head and didn't say anything. The black-haired boy also shook his head no.

"Sorry, Matt. Just can't seem to find somebody. I mean, we have, but you remember how badly all those auditions turned out." the black-haired boy, Ryan, shuddered. Matt grimaced and nodded.

"Yeah. Maybe Daisuke will be able to find somebody good." he shrugged and doodled on the notepad he had in front of him.

"Oh come now, ye of little faith. We'll find somebody," the bluenette, Arial, finally spoke.

"Hope so," Matt replied just as the front door opened.

"Hey Daisuke," all three of them hollered over their shoulders.

"Hey guys, guess what?" Daisuke asked rhetorically as he dashed into the living room.

"You're finally out of high school so we can take this band seriously?" Matt guessed anyway.

"No, even better. I think I found your extra guitarist!" Daisuke beamed.

"Where is he?" Matt sat up, suddenly very interested. Daisuke walked out to the front hall and came back several moments later with another boy. The boy ran a hand through his wild, bushy brown hair and blinked at them with his chocolate-amber eyes.

"Guys, this is Tai," Daisuke introduced them.

"Hey Tai," Ryan greeted him and shut the game off.

"Hey, I was playing that!" Arial shouted and turned around, suddenly spotting Tai.

"Oh, hi." Arial grinned at him. Tai nodded a hello and stared at Matt. Matt stared right back at him.

"Daisuke…" Matt trailed off.

"Don't praise me until later, Matt," Daisuke said confidently. Matt shook his head and glared at Daisuke.

"I asked you to bring me a guitarist, and you bring me a kid," Matt growled at the 18-year-old.

"Who you calling a kid?" Tai suddenly spoke up, fire glowing in his eyes.

"You. You are a kid," Matt stated simply. Tai's fist curled into a ball and Daisuke stepped in between the two before a fight could break out.

"Um, yeah, he's a kid. But he plays really great, Matt. Just let him play and see what you think," Daisuke pleaded him. Tai looked at him expectedly, almost challenging.

"All right, whatever." Matt shrugged. Daisuke grinned again and turned to Tai.

"Knock yourself out," he said cheekily. Tai rolled his eyes and took his guitar bag off of his shoulder. He unzipped it to reveal a slightly-battered black and white electric guitar.

"Where'd you get that guitar from?" Matt questioned him, going into his critical judgment mode.

"Used to belong to my dad," Tai simply replied as he tuned it a bit. "What do you want me to play?" he then asked, glaring at Matt once more.

"Anything you find worthy," Matt shot back. The pair of them stared into each other's eyes, fire clashing with ice, trying to burn the other's soul. The other three bystanders didn't say anything as they watched the whole scene in front of them. Tai sniffed and reached back into his bag.

"Fine. Do you want slow or fast guitaring? Also, do you need to hear my singing, or just guitar?" he asked, shifting through some papers.

"Whichever you feel will show your skill more. And yes, singing is required," Matt said back. Tai stood up to his full height and nodded.

"Fine," he said. "Let me know when you're ready," he added as an afterthought.

"Anytime you are," Matt said back. Tai nodded and took a deep breath, starting to play and sing with his eyes closed.

"This is who I am and this is what I like, GC, Sum and Blink, and MXPX rockin' my room," the brunet sang and swiftly moved his fingers across the strings. Four pairs of eyes watched him as he sang his song about never wanting to change and staying immature forever. It seemed to suit him perfectly in fact. A guitar solo in the middle of the song showed off his skills, although the notes were slightly repetitive. He finished it off with the chorus a few more times.

"Cause I'm not gonna change, I don't wanna grow up!" Tai finished it off with a strong guitar ending and came to a halt, opening his eyes and focusing on the group.

"Well, what did you think?" he asked, a bit breathless from singing. Ryan nudged Arial in the chest, who was still humming the song. Matt looked at the others and nodded.

"All of you, my room now," he said monotonously to the other three members of the band. Ryan and Arial ran into Matt's room, both fighting over who got to sit on the bed and Matt followed them, yelling that it was his bed. Daisuke turned to Tai and smiled.

"I think you did great," he said truthfully.

"Thanks, Daisuke." Tai gave him a lopsided grin.

"Just wait out here until we decide what to do," he instructed, pointing to the couch. Tai nodded and sat down, organizing his lyrics and music he had with him. Daisuke turned and walked into Matt's room, shutting the door behind him.

"So, what did you guys think?" he asked looking at the other three members, all of who were on Matt's bed.

"He's got some major skill. And he can even write lyrics. That's incredible!" Ryan exclaimed amazedly.

"He's hot," Arial said dreamily from his position in Ryan's lap.

"Ari, keep your sack where it belong," Matt snorted his response. Arial pouted and made a rude gesture at the blonde.

"How old is this kid, Dais?" Matt questioned, completely ignoring Arial.

"He just turned 16 a few weeks ago," Daisuke answered in a low voice, already knowing that it wasn't a good response.

"Holy shit! He's still a kid!" Matt exclaimed.

"That's puts him where school-wise?" Ryan asked.

"Tenth year," Daisuke replied.

"Damn, he's good." Ryan let out a low whistle. He turned to Matt and nodded to back up his point. "You have to admit, Matt, he is the best we've seen so far. Even better then Roshi before he quit."

"He's hot," Arial repeated himself.

"Ari, shut up."

"No, I mean not just looks. He's good. He's young. People will love him," Arial pointed out. Matt shrugged and didn't say anything.

"Matt, come on. If you let him go, we most likely won't find anybody else like him," Daisuke said. Matt again didn't reply as he sat thinking.

"He's so young though," he finally voiced his thoughts.

"That doesn't matter. He's still pretty damn good, spectacular even," Ryan reminded him. Arial nodded and looked at their leader.

"Matt, he's got the eyes of a rock star. Give him a chance," he begged him.

"Eyes of a rock star, huh?" Matt said doubtfully. Arial nodded again and beamed.

"Besides, it'd be fun having him around!" he said cheerfully.

"Yeah, someone on the same maturity level as Arial," Ryan cut in.

"Yeah, someone-**hey!**" Arial whacked his friend in the chest.

"Ow!" Ryan whimpered, massaging where Arial hit him. Matt stood up and walked back out into the living room with the others not far behind. Matt sat down across from Tai and examined him.

"How long have you been playing kid?" he questioned him.

"About two years I'm guessing," Tai replied, not breaking eye contact with Matt.

"And you just turned 16," Matt voiced as a statement rather than a question.

"Yes, about three weeks ago," Tai spoke again. Matt sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"You're still a kid," Matt said, more to himself then to Tai.

"Not really." Tai shrugged in response.

"You are compared to me."

"Why? How old are you?" Tai questioned him.

"19."

"Oh," the brown-eyed boy said quietly. Matt sighed again and shook his head.

"You're sure you would commit to this, huh?"

"Yes sir." Tai nodded. Matt nodded back and stood up.

"Guys, get him moved in here by tonight. I don't care how you do it; somebody's going to have to share a room. Just get it done," Matt commanded, walking into his own bedroom and shutting the door behind him. Tai just blinked at the retreating figure from his spot on the couch. Daisuke grinned and hauled Tai to his feet.

"Well, how are we going to do this guys?" he asked, looking at the other two.

"I suppose he could have my room and I'll bunk with Arial." Ryan shrugged.

"That'll work. Okay, you two work on getting Ryan's crap into Arial's room and Tai and I will go and get his stuff. Ari, you have a bunk bed don't you?" Daisuke questioned while he grabbed his car keys.

"Yeah, why?" Arial countered back with another question, resting his hand on the doorknob to his room.

"Because that way Tai can keep Ryan's bed," Daisuke replied as he opened the front door and dragged Tai out through it.

"Think this'll really work?" Arial asked Ryan as they walked to Ryan's room.

"Hope so." Ryan shrugged and swung the door open. Arial peered inside and wrinkled his nose.

"Ugh, when was the last time you cleaned your room, Ry?" he inquired, cautiously stepping inside.

"Um, seven months ago, maybe?" Ryan replied sheepishly.

"Gross." Arial shuddered and started to get to work.

* * *

After many hours of cleaning out Ryan's junk and transporting it to Arial's room, the room was empty for Tai's belongings. Tai and Daisuke came back about two hours later with two suitcases. 

"Room's all yours, kid," Ryan said as a greeting. Tai nodded and opened the door, Daisuke right behind him.

"Wow, it's bigger then my room at my own house," Tai chuckled.

"Wow, Ryan actually cleaned it," Daisuke teased his friend, who was now glaring at him.

"Funny, Dais." The black-haired boy rolled his eyes. All four boys piled into Tai's new room and helped him unpack, which wasn't much.

"This is all you brought with you?" Arial asked him, gesturing to the closet that was only about a fourth full.

"That's pretty much all I had." Tai shrugged. Arial was about to ask another question when Daisuke sent him a look saying to drop it.

"Well, seems pretty good," Daisuke said just as the doorbell rang.

"**Pizza's here!"** Ryan shouted and raced to the door. Daisuke and Tai both raised an eyebrow.

"Uh…" Tai started to say.

"Yeah…" Daisuke trailed off.

"We ordered pizza while you guys were at Tai's house," Arial explained and pulled the two boys out into the living room. Ryan was holding two boxes of pizza while trying to clear off space on the coffee table with his foot. Suddenly he lost balance and dropped both boxes. Yet Tai caught them both before they could hit the ground.

"Smooth reflexes," Ryan commented as he cleared away enough space with his empty hands. Tai merely shrugged and set the boxes down.

"I played soccer and baseball up until this year," he said, flopping down on the couch.

"Why'd you stop?" Arial asked him, grabbing some Cokes from the fridge and rejoining them.

"Just because," Tai skirted the question. The two boys just nodded and started eating.

"Well, it's official," Ryan said, drinking some of the pop in front of him.

"What is, Ry?" Daisuke asked.

"We're a band. We've got five now," he replied. Daisuke nodded and clapped Tai on the shoulder.

"Tai, welcome to the band. Be prepared for the time of your life." he grinned at the younger brunet.

"Oh don't worry Dais. I am." Tai grinned back.

* * *

Totally edited, thank you very much! Few notes,

Song is Grow Up by Simple Plan if you didn't know. Go listen to it, great song. Anyway, onto chapter 2!


	2. First Night, New Life

Hey everybody! It's been a while since I updated, but I have excuses! See, I had to work on Black Rose, which a majority of you are reading. And if you hadn't, go look! Anyway, responses!

Taito Kid: I'm glad I got this out too. I'm also glad you enjoyed it. I love the characters and I'm glad you're not flaming me for having OCs. Tai has a few secrets actually, so you'll find out! This isn't soon, but I updated!

Lady Kamiya: Yup, he's got the eyes of a rock star! Glad you liked it so much LK. This isn't soon, but hey, you know what went on! TAI! Tai glomps Tyson YAY! I liked that, haha. I agree with you about Matt's band. Why do you think I made them that way? ;)

Luna Wolf aka Matt4ever: Why did I make Dais older then Tai? Simple. It's an AU. I can do what I want, lol. Besides, it fits my plot better. Glad you love it so far!

Welsh Girlio: Glad you think that, lol. This isn't soon, but I updated at least! I'm flattered that you enjoy my work. Wait no more, here it is!

Arashi Doragon: WAI! Thanks for telling me I'm cool! D Glad you like it so far! This isn't soon but hey, I updated!

Sillie: Glad you like it, Sillie. bounces around

shadow-seraph: I'm glad you like my stories Shadow. I love your work as well! I really like what I have planned for this fic and hope you guys will too. I always thought it'd be cool having Tai younger then Matt in some fic. And I agree, he does act younger then Matt anyways! I continued!

digininga: I know I need to get on track with my other idea Heero, stop scolding me. I will keep up the work!

Melissa-O: LOL! Well, I love your enthusiastic reviews, Mel. joins Mel in running around on a sugar high Simple Plan is so great! Glad you liked that I had one of their songs in this fic, lol. This isn't soon but I updated!

droppingby: Well, I'm glad you like it already. I'm updating now, so I hope you're still reading! I've read the band thing too but I never really thought much of it. I have to have a creative plot for my fics, otherwise I can't write them. Star struck……isn't my thing. It'll happen a bit, but not yet! Thanks for letting me know my writing is appreciated.

nEo-cHaN: joins neo in praising the Simple Plan shrine Glad you like it so far, Neo. I love having Tai younger than Yama, it's just so damn fun! And yea, you are rambling but that's ok because I ramble too when I'm high on sugar just because sugar makes me happy! YES I PROMOTE MY OWN FICS, OK! Lol, ok I'm done. GO WORK ON STUFF! NOW! And to answer your P.S. I wouldn't know. It's your turn to work on it. :D

Kayanna: I agree with you, the longer the better! I'm glad you enjoyed it so far. And I like the idea of Tai being younger too. It just fits his personality, and makes for an interesting plotline! This isn't soon, but I updated when I could!

Cloudshadow0: Glad you liked it. I will never stop writing, it's just me! I decided to play around with their sexual preferences to spice things up! Hope you review this chapter too.

backward: Glad you like it so far! I totally agree, Tai being younger then Matt is so cool! Well, at least I did something unique then, lol. AND YES SIMPLE PLAN! hugs her Simple Plan CD I love that song too. It is SO me! This isn't soon, but I updated! Hope you do review!

Redvind: Glad you like it Redvind. And the ages, I say screw them for now, but they will have some affect later. Daisuke's older then Tai because I said so. Lol, after all, it's an AU. That has a purpose too.

Maira: So glad you love it already! This isn't soon, but hey, don't hate me! I updated at least, lol. I'm glad you think so about my plot. I agree with you, having Tai younger does suit him better for Taito.

LGF: YAY! Glad you like it, LGF. Secrets, Tai has plenty, like always. XD And yes, a T-shirt! YAY! I am updating now!

Hiked: Wow, the day you reviewed is the day I planned to update. YAY, cherry! Thanks for the review!

That should be it. I'm done!

Warnings: Cussing (like always), AU, a very rude Matt. Don't flame me for making him the way I do, it's for plot purposes! I promise that he won't stay like that for the whole story.

* * *

It was quiet among the four boys as they ate. Nobody dared say anything that might ruin the moment, or maybe it was just awkward for all of them now that there was a fifth member. Which reminded them… 

"Hey guys, where's Matt?" Tai stopped chewing long enough to ask.

"Probably still in his room," Daisuke brushed off the question, continuing to eat his pizza. The silence was once again brought on, engulfing the living room whole.

"Well…shouldn't he be out here eating?" Tai asked, once again breaking the silence. Arial shrugged and shook his head.

"Nah, he usually doesn't. He tends to lock himself in his room on certain days and spends them working on stuff. Lyrics, music sheets, etcetera," the bluenette explained, picking off a pepperoni and popping it into his mouth.

"Arial, why not just eat the pizza **with** the pepperoni on it?" Daisuke suggested, mildly amused by his friend's antics.

"I don't know really. It just….tastes better this way," Arial replied, examining the slice he had in his hand. Daisuke just shook his head and sighed.

"Have I ever mentioned that you are a pompous idiot?" he phrased as a statement rather then a question.

"Many, many times, Dais," Arial said, a grin spread across his features. It went back to being silent, each boy eating his food. Tai reached over for his sixth slice of pizza, Arial watching him with wide eyes.

"Damn, how much do you eat, kid?" he asked. Tai jumped and a light blush spread across his face.

"I didn't eat that much today," Tai said quietly and started to put the slice back.

"Tai, keep it," Daisuke ordered him sharply. Tai looked at Daisuke, meeting the burgundy-haired boy's eyes. Daisuke continued to glare at him until Tai took back the piece and started eating it. Throughout the entire meal, Ryan hadn't spoken a word. He silently observed the scene before him through his emerald green eyes. Slowly, he put down the slice of pizza in his hand and stood up. Still not speaking, he turned around and headed out into the front hall, slamming the door behind him. Tai looked at the door, blinking at Ryan's sudden disappearance.

"All right…what was that about?" he asked.

"Who knows?" Daisuke shook his head.

"Well, Ryan's like Matt. He has his days. Only he tends to disappear on his own every now and then. There have been times he won't come back for many days at a time," Arial explained, seeing as how he knew Ryan better then anyone else.

"Where does he go?" Tai continued asking questions.

"Not too sure. He never tells me and every time I ask, I just get a look saying never to ask again," Arial sighed. Tai nodded and put his plate down on the table.

"Um…do you mind if I just go to my, uh, room, I guess you would call it?" he inquired tentatively.

"Yeah of course, go ahead," Daisuke assured the boy, nodding his head in the vague direction of his room. Tai swiftly rose to his feet, bowed to the other two boys, and turned around as he headed for his new bedroom. He opened the door and quietly shut it behind him, Daisuke watching him all the while. He turned his gaze back to Arial, who was intently staring at him.

"What?" Daisuke asked, breaking the eerie silence between him and the bluenette. Arial's gaze could be a bit intimidating at times and this was one of those times. Although in reality the other boy could never hurt anybody, he could still strike fear into people's hearts.

"You know more about him then you're letting on, don't you?" Arial questioned him, blinking at him through his cornflower blue eyes.

"Possibly," Daisuke said cautiously.

"So, care to share what you know?" Arial shot back, determined to get answers. Nobody denied Arial Natsaki of answers to anything, unless they had a death sentence.

"Nope." Obviously Daisuke didn't care. The mahogany-haired boy rose from the couch and wandered into the kitchen to do the dishes that were left from the three older boys' lunch.

"Why not?" Arial got up and followed him, sitting down at the kitchen table and watching Daisuke's every move.

"Because it's not your business, Arial," Daisuke chided as he turned on the water on to rinse the dishes.

"Well it should be. I mean, we're all a band now and you guys know all of my secrets!" Arial all but whined, trying to get Daisuke to crack. Daisuke sighed and shook his head, not saying a word as he loaded plates into the dishwasher. Arial laid his head on his arms, looking up at Daisuke's back still. His gaze averted to the far-off wall, staring off into space.

"Are we ever going to know?" he asked timidly. Daisuke shut off the water and turned to look at his friend, leaning against the counter behind him.

"Maybe, it all depends on whether he wants to tell you or not," he simply replied, turning around again to dry off the counter.

"Well, why can't you just tell me? I mean, it's just you and me here and besides, you seem to know a lot about him," Arial tried to compromise.

"No is no is no, Ari. I can't tell you. I can't just betray Tai's trust like that."

"Well, who said you'd be betraying his trust huh? If he's going to tell us everything later on, it wouldn't hurt for you to tell me now."

"You really shouldn't assume things. They'll come back and bite you in the ass." Daisuke glared at the bluenette.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, maybe he won't want to let you guys know everything."

"Why did he tell you then?"

"He didn't. I figured out most of it myself. Besides, he's family, so of course I was bound to find out sooner or later."

"Family?"

"Yes, family. The truth is, Tai's my cousin. I've known he's been able to play guitar for a while now, but I waited until he was up to Matt's expectations to bring him here," Daisuke explained, moving away from the counter and sitting across the table from Arial.

"Well, I can see the bit of resemblance. How are you related to him?"

"His mom is my father's sister."

"This explains some more things," Arial said thoughtfully.

"Such as?"

"Why you're protective of him." Daisuke raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Huh?" he finally said, wondering about what was going through the other boy's mind.

"Seriously, it's true. I saw the look you were giving him when he started to put back that slice of pizza," Arial said confidently.

"Okay, so yeah, I'm protective of him. I have to be." Daisuke shrugged.

"I suppose. But are things really that bad that he's not comfortable telling us?"

"…yes. Things are a bit rough for him. But it's nothing you should worry about," Daisuke replied, rising from his chair. "How about a round of GT4?" he offered, hoping to distract Arial from asking any more questions. Arial was the band's own video game junkie, and the Gran Turismo games were his favorite to play on the Playstation 2.

"You're on!" Arial jumped up, dashing out into the living room. Daisuke smiled smugly, once again thrilled to prove his theory of distraction to be correct. He followed Arial out to the living room and picked up his controller, ready for another race.

* * *

Tai laid on Ryan's-wait, no, **his** bed in his new room. All of this was so new to him, the whole concept of moving in with a bunch of older guys and being out on his own now. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this, but hey, he was fulfilling his dream. There was no way in hell he was about to pass up an opportunity like this. And yet… there was still an empty feeling inside of him. Something that wasn't right. Could it be that he just didn't feel like he fit in quite yet? Or maybe it was the idea that the leader of this band hated him. 

"I didn't even do anything to him and he already hates me. Yeah, **this** is going to be great," Tai said to himself with an edge of sarcasm. Matt had pretty much gone out of his way to ignore the new boy, and when he did have to put up with him, he was rude. Well, maybe rude wasn't the right word. Maybe Matt was just as uncomfortable about having him around as he was about being there.

'_Yeah, that's it.'_ Tai decided, pushing himself into a sitting position. It was time for him to go and get some things straightened out. Tai rose up from the bed and stretched his arms, walking towards the door. He stepped out of his room and looked around, not really knowing where anything was in this strange apartment. He knew where Ryan and Arial's room was and where the kitchen and living room were, but other then that, nothing was familiar. In the living room, he spotted Arial and Daisuke on the couch playing the PS2.

'_Gran Turismo. At least they've got good taste.'_ he thought off-handedly. His gaze drifted around the medium-sized apartment. There were four rooms on the other side across from him and one more on the side he was standing on. He stepped out of the doorway and looked inside the room on his side first.

"Bathroom," he told himself, storing the location into his memory for future reference. Even though it wasn't that hard to remember that it was in between his room and Arial and Ryan's room.

'_Okay, now that that's taken care of, time to go examine the other side of the apartment.'_ Tai walked behind the couch, reaching the other side of the apartment without distracting the other two on the couch. He wandered towards the room on the far left and opened the door. Inside was a washing machine, along with a dryer and a few piles of dirty clothing. Tai shook his head and shut the door.

"That wasn't the right room," the brunet stated the obvious. There were no lights on in the next room so he didn't even bother checking there. He skipped to the third room and stepped inside. It was indeed another bedroom, but not the one of Matt. Using the process of elimination, he concluded that this was Daisuke's bedroom. He spotted a backpack on the floor along with a history textbook and several papers scattered everywhere. A silver boom box sat on top of another table, along with about 35 different CDs. Then of course there was the bed with a navy blue comforter and three pillows. While this was all interesting to look at, it was not what he had originally been looking for. He backed out of the room and shut the door behind him, heading towards the last room on the wall. He opened the door to that room and turned on the light. Inside sat a variety of objects including the boys' instruments. Right when you walked into the door, there was a table sitting a little off to the right along with four chairs. Daisuke's drums sat in one corner, along with Ryan's bass guitar. There was a sound booth built into one of the walls along with a big machine that controlled the tempo and sound of the music. Tai couldn't quite remember what it was called but he was thoroughly impressed.

"These guys really know what they're doing," Tai said in awe. There was a stack of CDs by the recorder thingy, which again, Tai didn't know what it was called. Also scattered around the room were a bunch of music magazines, some open to certain pages and some just carelessly thrown around. And in the corner on the left side of the door sat a computer, which Tai noticed was hooked up for internet access.

"Impressive. Very impressive," Tai said to himself once again. He shut off the light and walked out of the room.

'_Well, if that was the last room, where's Matt's?_' the young brunet pondered. He then remembered the room he had previously passed by, the one without lights on. So maybe the blonde was asleep? The brown-eyed boy highly doubted this concept and marched back to the room. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but stopped shortly before he could actually knock.

"Maybe I shouldn't disturb him…" Tai trailed off thoughtfully, letting his hand return to his side. He shook his head roughly, raising his hand up again. He had to straighten things out with the older boy in hopes that he wouldn't continue hating him. His hand got a bit closer and he knocked quietly. After a short wait, there was still no reply. Tai frowned and knocked again, only a little louder this time. His frown deepened when there was still no response.

"This is ridiculous," he murmured to himself and grabbed the doorknob, turning it slowly and stepping into the dark room. He shut the door behind him and looked around the room. The only source of light was coming from a blue lava lamp on the nightstand, giving the room a soft aura. A black CD player sat on top of another desk, currently playing the Maroon 5 CD. The bed was sitting underneath the window, and on top of it was a blonde boy with piercing blue eyes. With those eyes, he glared at Tai in expectation.

"May I help you?" he asked in a low voice, staring at Tai from his position on the bed.

"Well, I-" Tai stopped himself, trying to think of how to word his intentions just right.

"You what?" Matt asked, arching a delicate eyebrow.

"Why do you hate me?" Tai blurted out bluntly, surprising both boys. Matt shook his head and smiled. Correction, it wasn't even a smile. More like a smirk, a mocking smirk for that matter. And Taichi Yagami did not like being mocked.

"My my my. I don't hate you, my dear apprentice. I merely look down upon you," Matt said smoothly, blinking up at Tai with those ocean blue eyes.

"Excuse me?" Tai all but growled at the leader, temper starting to boil inside of him.

"Well, face it kid, you've got a lot to learn and don't think we're going to slow down for you. You gotta be able to keep up with the rest of us and I simply feel that you're not ready."

"How do you I'm not ready for that?" Tai shot back, fire glowing in his chocolate-amber eyes.

"Ah, you apparently were not listening to me. I never said you weren't ready. I said that I felt that you weren't ready," Matt purred in satisfaction, enjoying every moment of making the brunet mad.

"Whatever! You don't know anything about me!" Tai yelled at the blonde boy.

"I know that you're acting very immature right now," Matt replied. Tai narrowed his eyes but couldn't argue with that statement. True, he was being immature, but he had basically been told that he couldn't handle being in the band without being given a chance. That gave him a right to pitch a fit.

"The issue is not my maturity. It's my skill level. And I **know** that I can handle this," Tai growled fiercely.

"Uh-huh. Right, well, I'll keep that in mind tomorrow when we start practicing," Matt retorted in a soft, airy tone.

"You are so focused on assumptions that you're not even going to give me a chance!" Tai protested.

"Well, we'll see tomorrow. Now go and get out of my sight." Matt waved his hand in the direction of the door.

"Fine!" Tai shouted and wrenched the door open, slamming it behind him. The slamming brought Arial and Daisuke out of their video game zone and they turned to Tai, who delivered one final kick to Matt's bedroom door.

"Please don't tell me you tried confronting Matt," Daisuke groaned, pausing the game at hand.

"Okay I won't," Tai huffed, glaring daggers at the door.

"**Big** mistake, mi compadre. **Very big** mistake," Arial said, switching the game to one-player and continuing to play.

"Um, ya, thanks for letting me know now," Tai moaned and flopped down on the couch next to Daisuke.

"No problem," the blue-eyed boy replied, oblivious to the sarcasm in Tai's tone.

"Matt is one of those people who will bite if he feels threatened. Not literally of course," Daisuke added quickly after seeing the look of terror on Tai's face. "But he can be very…sadistic at times."

"He's being an ass is what he's being. He pretty much said he doesn't feel that I belong here." Tai pouted as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"That's just Matt worrying about the band" Daisuke explained.

"Matt takes this band **very** seriously, so he wants everything to be in top shape, including all of us," Arial joined in, passing another car on the screen.

"Still, it's not like I'll be **that** far behind you guys," Tai said boldly.

"Still, you never know until you actually play with us." Daisuke shrugged. He wasn't about to let Tai's head grow to the size of a blimp.

"But hey, he said yes to letting me be here, didn't he? That's got to mean I'm somewhat good!" Tai stressed his point.

"Oh forget it," Daisuke sighed and shook his head. Suddenly there was another slam coming from the front hall. All three heads turned and spotted Ryan coming in from the front hall.

"Where have you been?" Arial asked, pausing the game to get up and greet his best friend.

"Just out taking care of some business," Ryan replied, looking over the three boys before him.

"Still, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come back tonight!" Arial said cheerfully as he got closer to the black-haired boy. His face quickly changed from a smile to a look of disgust.

"You smell like smoke," Arial coughed lightly. Ryan shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and forced a smile onto his face. Arial continued to examine him closely.

"And your eyes are kind of red and bloodshot. Have you been crying or something?" he asked more questions.

"It's nothing, Ari. Don't worry about it," he said semi-reassuringly. He pushed the bluenette out of the way and headed towards their bedroom.

"Hey, why don't you just stay out here with us?" Daisuke suggested, trying to hold Ryan's attention.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm kinda tired so I'm just going to shower and go to bed," Ryan said off-handedly and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Arial was still standing up, eyes fixated on the bathroom door.

"Something's not right with him," he declared softly, dragging himself back towards the couch and sitting down once again. Daisuke shook his head in agreement.

"You don't think he's-" he started to say but Arial cut him off.

"No. He's not smoking pot again. He promised me that he quit," Arial said sharply.

"Arial, you honestly don't know what he's doing when he goes out," Daisuke replied reasonably.

"No, but I do know that he's not smoking it anymore and I don't care what you think, Dai! I trust Ryan to tell me the truth and it's your own problem if you don't," Arial all but yelled at Daisuke as he rose up from the couch. He stormed off towards his bedroom in anger.

"Arial, c'mon, don't be mad!" Daisuke tried to convince his friend. His only response was the door slamming.

"You guys like slamming doors, don't you?" Tai inquired quietly, successfully breaking the silence.

"It's pretty much guaranteed to happen about…five times a day," Daisuke sighed.

"So what was that all about?" Tai asked. Daisuke shook his head and shrugged.

"Arial puts too much trust in Ryan."

"He used to be a pothead?"

"Back in high school, he did for a while. Like, when he was your age actually," Daisuke told him.

"Jeeze…you all have your own problems don't you?" Tai fiddled with the game controller next to him.

"Yeah, you're right. You have your problems, Ryan had his drug problems, Arial's had, well his whole life was a problem really, and Matt…"

"Matt…" Tai repeated.

"We're not quite sure about Matt. Some things happened, but he won't tell us."

"Oh." The silence took place again as Tai stared blankly at the TV.

"So you still believe that Ryan's smoking pot?" he asked Daisuke.

"I do. He usually does come back smelling like smoke and crap, but I don't know. I know Arial has so much trust and faith in him because they're practically brothers, but still. It's very possible."

"What do you mean they're practically brothers?" Tai asked.

"I mean, Ryan's parents pretty much adopted Arial when he was 12 because his mom disowned him."

"That's awful," Tai interjected suddenly, shocked that anyone would actually disown their child at that young age.

"Yeah, you'll have to ask Arial if you want the whole story. But for now, we both should probably hit the sack," Daisuke suggested, getting off of the couch.

"Why? It's only 11pm on a Friday night," Tai protested.

"Because Matt tends to wake us up early to practice," Daisuke replied, pulling Tai up from the couch.

"Slave driver," Tai mumbled. Daisuke smiled wryly and shook his head.

"You'll get used to it within time. Now go to bed," Daisuke said mockingly, hugging his cousin briefly.

"All right, g'night Dais."

"Night Tai. Don't complain to me in the morning about getting up so early." With those final good nights, both boys went into their separate rooms to let sleep claim them.

* * *

Tai was curled up in a nice, warm ball in his bed, enjoying the comfort he was experiencing. His bed at home was never that comfortable nor were his sheets that soft as the bed he was in now. But alas, someone decided to destroy his comfort. Daisuke opened the door and bounced in, sitting on Tai's bed. 

"Wakey wakey, little Tai-chan. It's time to get up!" Daisuke chirped cheerfully. Tai cracked open one eye and glanced at the clock.

"Go. Away," he muttered, pulling the covers over his head.

"Tai, Matt wants you up so we can start practice," Daisuke argued, trying to pull the covers from Tai.

"Tell Matt to go suck an egg," Tai said sullenly.

"Actually, you just told me yourself, kid," a new voice spoke up, joining the conversation. Tai pulled his head out from his covers and sat up, glaring at the smirking blonde in the doorway.

"Why me?" Tai moaned, flopping back down on his bed.

"Because I said so. Now get up and dress so we can start practice," Matt ordered him, swiftly turning around and walking away. Tai groaned again and sat up, rubbing some of the sleep from his eyes.

"What the hell? It's only 8am!" he said in between yawns.

"Told you he likes having us up early. Now get dressed. I'll meet you in the practice room," Daisuke said, pushing himself off of the bed and walking out of Tai's room, shutting the door behind him. Tai sighed and shook his head, running a hand through his tousled hair. He rose from his warm and comfy bed and wandered over to his closet. He rummaged around for a bit before pulling out a navy blue T-shirt and dark blue jeans. He slipped both articles of clothing on and walked out of his room, stumbling into the practice room with his guitar. All four other band members were in there waiting for him patiently.

"Well, good morning sunshine!" Arial beamed, apparently in a chipper mood. Tai merely blinked at him and walked towards the others, waiting for instructions from the slave driver.

"Well, now that we're all finally here, we can get down to business," Matt said, eyeing every one of them.

"Such as?" Ryan asked him, shifting his guitar around.

"Just practice a few new songs, see if things sound good for now," Matt responded, specifically looking at Tai.

"Which songs?" Daisuke questioned, spinning around on his drummer stool.

"Probably the party song and maybe Don't Leave Me for today." Matt replied.

"Ooh! Can we do the party song first?" Arial asked excitedly.

"He has enough energy to sing really fast like it's supposed to be sung," Ryan explained for his sugar-rushed friend.

"Yup yup yup!" Arial beamed at Matt.

"All right, party song then." Matt said. Arial cheered and smiled widely again, causing Daisuke to laugh and Tai to wrinkle his nose in confusion.

"What on Earth is the party song?" the young brunet asked.

"One of our songs, duh. It's one of our more fun songs," Ryan replied calmly. Tai nodded and clutched his guitar nervously. Matt smiled smugly to himself, noticing the brunet's anxiety. As mean as it was, he still found it rather amusing. He fished through a pile of papers on the table and came up with an extra sheet of music for Tai to look at.

"Think you can keep up?" he asked innocently, still keeping some edge behind his meaning.

"Of course!" Tai exclaimed defensively. It was then he got a good look at the music.

'_Wha? What's all this?'_ he thought to himself. The music was all stuff he wasn't used to. Repeated, rapid guitar strokes, shifting notes suddenly, and an number of other things that made his head spin.

'_Oh crap.' _

"Okay guys, ready?" Matt asked, picking up his own guitar, a beautiful dark blue one with silver designs.

"Ready whenever Ari is," Daisuke replied.

"I'm ready." Arial nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay then, start whenever," Ryan said, placing a firm grip on his bass. Arial took a deep breath and opened his mouth; the boys' signal to get ready.

"Do you want to come to a party, my friends picked me up in their truck at 11:30," Arial started singing and the boys started playing. Everything was going along smoothly up until the second part of the first verse. Suddenly, there was a sour guitar note followed by a crash. All four other members stopped and turned to look at Tai, who sheepishly grabbed his guitar off of the floor.

"Sorry, I kind of got lost," he said apologetically.

"Really now. Is it too hard for you, kid?" Matt asked him, in an almost taunting way.

"No, I just can't keep up," Tai said in reply. Matt nodded and a small smirk crossed his features.

"I can manage to keep up just fine, and so can Ryan," the blonde pointed out. Tai gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.

"I realize that. I'm just trying to get used to this music," he growled lowly.

"Are you sure you're ready for this type?" Matt questioned, reminding Tai of their conversation the previous night.

"Yes, I believe I can." Tai glared at him.

"Okay then, let's start from the top people!" Matt ordered. Arial took another deep breath and started to repeat the song. Tai was doing better with the guitaring but it was still hard to keep up and as it got harder, he kept messing up. After about seven tries, he was ready to quit.

"Really kid, you need to learn what you're doing with **all** types of music. Not just your own," Matt reminded him. At this point, Tai was on the brink of tears out of pure frustration.

"Don't you think I know that?" he hissed. He would have yelled, but he didn't trust his voice at the moment.

"Well then why haven't you yet?" Matt asked him in a demanding tone.

"Because I didn't think I would need to know right away," Tai replied honestly, feeling smaller and smaller by the moment.

"Hey, if you're not ready, you shouldn't be playing with the big boys, kid," Matt stated, adjusting his guitar strap. Tai let out another growl of frustration, but it came out more as a sob. He pulled his guitar off of his shoulder and set it down, walking out of the room at a rapid pace. The room was silent, all of the older boys taking in the scene that just happened.

"Matt, don't you think you're being a little hard on him?" Daisuke broke that silence, holding both of his drumsticks in one hand.

"No, not at all. He needs to learn that I'm not just messing around with my band. I want my band to succeed and go somewhere," Matt retorted haughtily.

"Matt, this isn't just **your** band. It's **our **band," Ryan cut in.

"Yeah, there's no I in team, or in band for that matter," Arial added thoughtfully.

"Still, if he can't handle it, he shouldn't be here." Matt refused to change his mind. Daisuke shook his head and walked out of the room, walking towards Tai's room.

Tai was sitting on his bed, with his head buried in his hands. Daisuke sighed softly and opened the door wider, walking up to his bed and sitting next to him.

"I'm sorry, Tai. Matt can be strict at times," Daisuke apologized for his friend's attitude.

"He can go burn in hell," Tai murmured through his tears.

"Tai, look at me," Daisuke ordered his cousin. Tai refused to move.

"Tai." Still no movement from the young brunet. Daisuke sighed louder then before and pulled Tai's hands from his face, revealing the tear-streaked face of a little boy. Well, he was a little boy compared to the rest of them at any rate.

"What's going on? I know you're not just upset about Matt saying all that stuff."

"No…it's true. I'm **not** ready for this. I can't do this," Tai whispered. Daisuke shook his head and took Tai by the shoulders, forcing him to look into his eyes.

"Listen to me, all right. You **are** ready. You just need practice, that's all," Daisuke reassured him. Tai slowly nodded in agreement.

"But what about-" Tai started to say but Daisuke cut him off.

"Don't worry about Matt okay? I can help you get up to speed and then he won't have anything to say," Daisuke interrupted, hoping that it would work.

"Yeah, then he won't have anything to say," Tai repeated with a small smile.

"See, that's the Tai I know." Daisuke smiled back. He grabbed Tai by the hands and pulled him to his feet.

"Let's make some lunch, and then we can head back to start practicing again," Daisuke suggested. Tai nodded and followed his cousin out of the room. Throughout his first night and his day's experience, he had come to only one conclusion.

'_I absolutely hate Yamato Ishida.'_

* * *

Edited, Party Song by blink-182, don't own GT-4, have fun. 


	3. One Of The Boys

Here's what Tyson has to say to you all.

LK: LK! You were the first one to review chapter two! Yea, poor Tai! cries Meaniehead? Oo Well then, that was kind of grade school, lol. hands Yama some Midol There. Yes, the beloved Party Song! I had that song stuck forever and HAD to use it. Matt, be nice to LK. I updated! WAHOO!

Kayanna: Yes, mean Yamato. Lol, but you're correct, it does make a good plot. The niceness will come in time, rest assure. DUDE! You added me on your MSN a LOOOOONG time ago and you're never on! Anyways, here's an update! (obviously.)

backward: DVD! YAY! Ok, anyways. I'm soooooo happy you like this fic so much. Tai's secrets will be revealed sooner or later, along with Ryan's sub-plot. Matt will be less of a bitch, yes, just not toooooo soon. And of course, we can't forget the protective Dai! EXAMS ARE BAD! hisses Here's an update! And yea, I did get those shirts from those guys, lol.

tenshi208: Glad you love it, here's an update!

Sen-Tay: Glad you love it, ST. Lol, yea, I can imagine that part too….D Wait no more, here's chapter 3!

HIKED: I'm going to assume that class is a good thing. This isn't soon, but it's updated! And don't worry about the ass kisser part…….I love praise. D You reviewed twice!

LGF: Glad you think so, LGF. Everybody's got secrets, and you can't kno-ow! Just kidding, you'll find out soon. I wanted those relationships so I could form plot off of them. I know Matt's being mean, but he'll get better………eventually…..anyways. Yea, I kind of had something planned like that. AU's are great! TAI AND YAMA COOKIES ARE GOOD! This isn't soon, but at least I updated right? Right?

Yakari Taito aka Luna Wolf: Glad you liked it, here's the continuation!

Kelset: Glad you think so, John. And yay! You said something besides good job! WOOHOO!

Redrum: Tai has many secrets and I don't even know what will happen to him yet. Well I mean, I have an idea, but they always change…..but I guarantee that it'll be chock-full of angst! I'm glad you like the age difference. I've rarely seen it done, and I don't think I've ever seen it where he's more then a few months younger. I agree with ya, he is a bit more mature. But our little Taichi just enjoys being juvenile, don't you Tai? Tai nods and goes back to making out with Yama oo……well then. He'll catch up, I promise! Glad you like Dai and Tai's closeness.

Shadow-seraph: Yay! I'm so glad you liked it enough to review. Yes, poor Taichi indeed, if only he was able to see the future. Here's the next part!

nEo: I kind of guessed that you loved it, Neo. This isn't soon but I updated. AND YES! GO WORK ON CS! NOW! Lol, j/k.

Maira: Heh, I didn't know that I'd make Matt into such a brat either…..it just sort of happened. Ya, it does make the plot better though. All of the GT games are the best! I haven't played GT4 though . I was actually thinking of a mix of both. YOU READ MY HALF-MIND! …..Don't ask what that's all about. You pretty much just predicted the chapter, but I added some more things. Hope you enjoy it!

Melissa-O: Mel, you always leave me long reviews that make me laugh. Glad I made you happy by posting, lol. Glad to know that you and Haito think I'm good at writing, lol. YES HAITO I ROCK! Anyways, yea…….that was entertaining.

crimson-pineapple: Glad you thought it was good.

Sillie: Yea, poor Tai…….this isn't soon but I continued!

Welsh Girlio: Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it. This isn't soon, but…….oh you know the drill! I love Tai! And I usually stick to writing Taito, but Yamachi is really cute too! This is my first I think. Lots of awesome's in there, huh? Lol. I want to be in a band! No fair! Sounds fun .

Inuyasha-Luv-Kagome: Wow, don't beg so much, here's more. Lol. And please continue with your story too! I want to keep reading it and I'm sure others do too!

gigimardi: Yea, I could tell that you were lazy. But whatever, I really don't care. I'm just saying you should try to create more characters. I love creating them and they all turn out great. I would flame but I would rather not waste my time. Maybe if you wrote something in a forum I'm interested in. Glad you think my work is good, at least. Also, might I add that it's kind of pointless to say you'll stab flamers? I mean, how are you going to locate them?

DarkMetalAngel of Destruction: I updated, sorry to keep you waiting.

Siyengo: Wow, did you decide to go through and read all of my stories or what? Lol. I wouldn't take it that personal. She's only one person after all. I've seen the reviews you get. I'll have to R&R one of your stories sometime. I'm glad you think my stories are good. I wouldn't go as far as brilliant, but thanks! Comic genius, ne? I could live with that. Don't mutter, eat sugar! Hope you continue reading this. I want people's honest opinions and you seem to give those out quite well.

Sasuki: Glad you think so. Here's an update! Hope you review!

Heaven's Angel Chick: Wow, don't die! I updated! I'm glad you love it so much. Wow, thanks very much Ken. Lol, here's an update you were begging for.

digininga: Heero, you're starting to freak me out….lol. Yes, Matt being a bitch was for a good reason. SO THERE: P Don't doubt me, I know what I'm doing most of the time. Yes, FINISH YOUR DAMN FIC! I want to see what you've got planned for a new one. KTF says hi back and Ryamon butted in and said that she still hates Gygomon……well then. OF COURSE I OWN A PS2! Lol, tweaker.

Savoan Locc: Okay then.

Cherrii: Well, thanks so much This isn't all too soon, but I continued!

Copycat4: Yesh, hail SP! I'm glad you love it! I updated!

Mrs. Passionate: Dude! I love your praise, lol. I continued today! Be happy for me.

I'm going to state it now. Not all of my chapters in this fic will focus on Tai and/or Matt. After all, have to keep things well rounded! So…NO COMPLAINING ABOUT THE LACK OF TAI AND YAMA!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Actually I own Ryan, Arial, the idea of what their apartment looks like, the plot, a PS2, 5 PS games, 5 Harry Potter books, a new Sparky(don't ask), and about $170 in cash I think. So in other words, I don't own any of the Digimon characters. Which is a bummer because I am absolutely in love with Tai and Yama and of course DAISUKE! I don't get why some people hate him so much, I love him to death! Although it could be because his dubbed name is my last name and I'm like him……

* * *

Arial and Ryan were sitting in the living room when Tai and Daisuke walked out of Tai's room. The two cousins looked at the other boys curiously. 

"What's going on?" Daisuke asked, stopping near the side of the couch. Arial shook his head and sighed, allowing Ryan to be the spokesman.

"Matt decided that if we were going to fall apart and go soft over a bratty kid, then he didn't want to put up with our shit today," The black-haired bassist explained.

"And those were the exact words he used, mind you," Arial added in. Daisuke groaned and rolled his eyes, quickly glancing over to Tai. Tears were still present in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall.

"Bratty kid, am I? Well it's better then being a **pms-y dickwad!**" Tai yelled, directing his voice to Matt's room. The three older boys exchanged glances and shook their heads. Arial and Ryan got off of the couch and grabbed their shoes, along with Ryan's house keys.

"We gonna go?" Daisuke asked. The two best friends nodded to him and opened the front door, stepping out into the hallway. Daisuke grabbed his wallet from the table in the entrance hall and Tai's hand, yanking on the young brunet's arm.

"Ah! What the hell?" Tai squawked, since he was unprepared for the whiplash. Daisuke didn't say a word as they walked out into the hallway, shutting their front door behind them. The three older boys remained silent as they marched to the lift, riding it down to the lobby and stepping out into the bright spring sunshine.

"Which one should we take?" Arial asked as the group walked onto the asphalt parking lot.

"I've got my keys," Ryan replied, fingering the key ring in his pocket.

"I do too. So what do you think?" Daisuke questioned, pulling out a set of keys as well.

"I like Ryan's better. I mean, it's not as classy as Matt's, but we don't have Matt's keys. Besides, yours has a bunch of crap in it that needs to be cleaned out," he replied to Daisuke. Daisuke shook his head and muttered something very similar to "Neat-Freak" under his breath.

"So we decided on mine?" Ryan broke up their conversation before it could get out of hand.

"Sure," Tai said immediately, jumping into the conversation blindly. "Wait, your what?" he asked, adopting a confused look.

"My car," Ryan laughed slightly, leading the younger boy to the left side of the parking lot.

"You have your own car?" Tai's eyes widened in awe as the two rounded a corner.

"Yep, graduation present from my parents," Ryan replied proudly, giving off a small smile.

"In other words, his mommy and daddy spoil him to no end," Arial said teasingly, sauntering up next to the duo.

"Hey, my mom and dad gave you your laptop with your CD burner and write crap," Ryan cut in.

"DVD re-write, say it with me. D-V-D Re-Wri-ite. And I'm fully aware that your parents bought it for me. I'm just saying, it's not that expensive compared to a car." Arial shrugged.

"Hey, would you like me to tell them that?"

"**No!** Dude, your parents already spend too much on me. I'm not even their kid!"

"Well, you kind of are. You've been living with us officially for the past seven years, and you've been around for the past 11. It's not a big deal."

"Well, they still shouldn't have even gotten me the laptop."

"Ari, we've gone in circles about this many many times. **They don't mind!**" Daisuke walked up behind Tai and poked him in the shoulder.

"What are they fighting about now?" he whispered to the younger boy. Tai looked back at the bickering 'brothers' and shook his head.

"No clue," he responded. Daisuke nodded and stepped up behind Arial and Ryan. He placed his arm between them and snapped his fingers loudly. Both older boys jumped and turned to face the mahogany-haired boy.

"You two fight like an old married couple," he merely stated and walked ahead of them. The 19-year-olds blinked and turned back to Tai.

"Do we really fight like an old married couple?" Arial asked him. Tai suppressed a smile and shook his head slowly.

"No, of course not," he said quickly and broke into a run, catching up with Daisuke. The two boys remained planted into their places. They both stood in silence looking at one another. The silence continued on as the stares grew more nerve-wracking.

"Do we really fight like an old married couple?" Arial pondered once more, placing his hand to his chin in thought.

"Shut up, Arial," Ryan groaned, grabbing his comrade by the elbow and dragging him to his parking spot. Tai and Daisuke were already waiting for them when they arrived.

"**I call shotgun!"** Arial yelled, suddenly bursting forward, retching open the door and hopping into the seat.

"Don't you lock your doors?" Daisuke asked, pushing the driver's seat forward so that he and Tai could climb into the back. Tai hustled into the backseat and Daisuke followed, pushing the seat back forward with his feet.

"A day with you guys is never dull." Ryan shook his head and flopped down into the driver's seat, sticking the key into the ignition. The car purred to life and he shifted into reverse, backing the car out of its space and then switching to drive, peeling out of the parking lot and merging with traffic. The four boys didn't say anything as the radio softly played the new Hoobastank song.

"But I just want you to know. I've found a reason for me, to change who I used to be!" Daisuke sang, rather loudly and off-key. Tai groaned and covered his ears while Arial tried to bury his head into Ryan's shoulder.

"Arial, get off!" Ryan yelped, swerving around another car that he hadn't seen coming and braking quickly to avoid rear-ending it. Arial lifted his head off of Ryan's shoulder slowly, giving his charcoaled-haired a sheepish grin. Ryan frowned and sighed, looking back to the road. He reached out and shut the radio off, stopping Daisuke from finishing the song. Tai unplugged his ears, Daisuke whined, and Ryan pressed the gas pedal, continuing to drive down the road.

"See Dais, this is why Matt and Ari do the singing," Ryan explained over his shoulder, now paying more attention to the road then to his friends.

"What, are you saying that my singing is bad?" The other three looked at each other with similar looks.

"Oh yeah," they chorused at the same time. Daisuke pouted and crossed his arms, looking out the window.

"Aw, cheer up Daisuke. It could be worse," Tai cheerfully reminded him.

"Yeah, you could have Ryan's singing voice after he's had a few drinks," Arial interjected. Ryan reached over and slapped the bluenette behind the head. The other two laughed and Arial winced.

"Thanks," he said dryly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh, come off it. I didn't hit you that hard," Ryan chided. He pulled into a different lane and turned onto an adjacent street.

"So, anybody decided where we're going?" he asked the other boys.

"I vote we hit the mall," Arial suggested, leaning back into his seat.

"That's always your suggestion," Daisuke replied.

"I don't see you complaining."

"Well no, but I mean, couldn't we try something different for once?"

"Why bother if you're not complaining about the mall?"

"Because the same routine over and over again is rather boring, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but we can go somewhere else **next** time."

"That's what you said **last** time."

"**God damn you guys, shut up!"** Ryan yelled, pulling the entire car into complete silence. "You two have this same argument every time we go to the mall. Let's just go to the mall and not complain about it, all right?" he said rather calmly. Both boys nodded and kept their mouths shut.

"Good." Ryan nodded with a satisfied smirk. He drove up the street a little farther, turning into the entrance to the mall. He drove around the parking lot, looking for a decent parking spot.

"Damn, looks like everybody else decided going to the mall today was a good idea," Ryan whistled, still searching for a decent place to stop.

"Having trouble looking for a Sparking Pot?" Daisuke inquired, looking out the windshield.

"Yeah and you two clowns aren't helping either," Ryan grumbled back.

"Hey Ryan, there's one coming up on your right," Tai said quietly. Ryan turned and looked to his right. Sure enough, there was a vacant spot.

"Thanks, Tai," Ryan answered the other boy, pulling into the parking spot. He shifted the car into park and turned off the engine, removing his keys from the ignition. In a manner too calm for human use, he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned sideways so that he could look at Arial and Daisuke simultaneously.

"Now. That is how a civilized person behaves," he started out, pointing at Tai. "You two are not civilized. You are both acting rather immature today **and it's bugging the crap out of me!**" he shouted, causing all three boys to jump. Ryan closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh. "Now, are you two going to behave yourselves?" he asked. The two older boys nodded quickly. Ryan smirked once again and opened the door.

"Glad we've come to an agreement," he stated, climbing out of the seat and pulling it forward to let Tai out of the backseat. Arial and Daisuke scrambled out of the car as quick as they could and Ryan locked the doors. The four turned and started to stroll over to the main doors. Thanks to Tai's parking spot, the distance wasn't very long for them as they walked through the automatic doors.

"So, where should we go first?" Arial asked, running a hand through his royal blue hair.

"Let's grab lunch, I'm starved!" Daisuke announced, taking the lead. The group followed Daisuke as he led the way to the food court. Tai stayed behind the other three, taking in all of the different sights around him.

'_Heh, this must be how Harry Potter felt the first time he went to Diagon Alley.'_ Tai ironically thought to himself. The last time he had been inside of a mall was when he was about five-years-old. Everything was so different with this lifestyle. He was suddenly thrown into a different world with different sights, sounds, smells, people and emotions. His thoughts instantly were thrown back to Matt. There was no way he was going to get away with treating Tai like dirt, he just wouldn't allow it.

'_I spent most of my life as a nobody. He's not going to make me feel like nobody any more.'_ he decided firmly, looking straight ahead for any signs of his friends.

"Yo Tai, are you coming or what?" Daisuke hollered at him. Tai grinned and quickened his pace, falling in stride with his cousin.

"What's up with you today?" the older cousin asked, turning his head to look at Tai's expression.

"Nothing," Tai stated shortly. Daisuke raised an eyebrow and gave him a lopsided grin.

"You're not letting Matt's comments get to you, are you?"

"…no, that's not really it."

"Then what?" Tai sighed and looked forward, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"Can we talk about this later?"

"Yeah, sure," Daisuke replied, stopping in front of the food court. Ryan and Arial walked right past him and jumped in a line for cheeseburgers. He glanced over at Tai. The young brunet was staring off into the distance, not focused on what was going on right next to him. Daisuke mentally sighed and touched Tai's arm, bringing him back down to Earth.

"Let's say we go join them, huh?" he offered. Tai nodded and the cousins joined their friends in line.

"Hey, I'm going to go grab a table, all right?" Arial told them, walking away without an answer.

"Yeah, sure, whatever…" Ryan trailed off.

"I think he's mad at you," Daisuke informed the other.

"Why? Just because I yelled at him for almost making me cause a wreck?"

"You know how he is. He's sensitive to the most stupid things."

"True. But you also know that he'll be over it soon." Ryan shrugged, stepping up to the counter to order. He got his food and waited on the side for the other two to get their meals. Once they had everything, they headed over to the table Arial was sitting at. Tai and Daisuke immediately dove into their food, causing a few fries to fly off of the table. Ryan's face fell into a look of disbelief and he shook his head at the boys' pure idiocy. He turned back to Arial who was looking across the walkway.

"You're not really mad at me, are you?" Ryan asked him cautiously.

"No. Who said I was?" he countered monotonously, not looking back at Ryan.

"Your actions."

"Wow, didn't know they could talk." Ryan reached out and grabbed Arial's chin, forcing him to look at him.

"Now you listen to me, jackass. I reacted just like any sensible person would. Don't take things so personally," Ryan hissed. Arial twisted out of Ryan's grasp and scowled at him.

"Screw off."

"Stop offering," Ryan said smoothly. Arial shut his mouth and looked away, crossing his arms. Ryan also looked away and back at his food.

"Hey Ryan?"

"What."

"Um…what are we fighting about?"

"…I'm not quite sure."

"You guys are pathetic," Daisuke interrupted them, swallowing the last bite of his cheeseburger.

"Thanks." Arial grinned.

"Hey, are you going to eat?" Ryan suddenly asked, noticing that Arial didn't have any food before him.

"Uh, nah. Not all that hungry," Arial replied. Ryan shook his head and set a half-empty container of fries in front of him.

"We are not going to go over this again. When you are around me, you are going to eat. Understand?" he stated firmly. Arial slowly nodded and picked out one of the fries in the box, popping it into his mouth.

"Happy?" he asked, swallowing it down.

"No, but getting there," Ryan replied gently, looking away once more. Things returned to normal, all of the boys finishing their lunches before they decided on what to do next.

"So now where?" Ryan asked, slurping his Coke through a straw.

"Just For Kicks," Arial said instantly.

"Why?" Daisuke asked, balling up his napkin and tossing it towards the trash can, sinking it inside.

"Because I need new runners," Arial answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Ok Mr. Femme, we'll head over there next," Ryan teased him. Arial rolled his eyes and threw the empty fry box in Ryan's face.

"Guys, what's Just For Kicks?" Tai's soft voice entered the conversation. Arial and Ryan both jumped at the sound.

"Jeeze kid, you need to talk more often so we don't freak out when you do!" Ryan breathed out.

"Heh, sorry." Tai shrugged. "Anyway, what's Just For Kicks?" he repeated his question.

"It's a shoe store, a **big** shoe store," Arial replied with stars in his eyes, getting out of his chair and pushing it in.

"We're leaving now?" Daisuke asked, standing up as well.

"Might as well." Ryan shrugged, following in suit. Tai got up also and the four boys walked away from the food court, heading south to the shoe store.

Arial was right, Just For Kicks was a large store, nothing like Tai had ever seen before. The older boys waltzed inside, making their way to the back wall where the men sizes were. Tai timidly followed them, looking at the different kinds of shoes that were lined up on the wall. Arial led them to a certain section and started looking along the walls for different shoes. Daisuke and Ryan dropped themselves onto an opposite bench and groaned.

"Take a seat, Tai. It will be a while," Ryan informed him, scooting over so Tai could join them.

"No shit it will be. Arial usually takes about two hours searching for just the right shoe," Daisuke added in, stretching out his limbs.

"That's where you're wrong, Daisuke my friend," Arial countered, appearing in front of them.

"How so?"

"I happen to know what shoes I want this time, so this shouldn't take so long," he declared smugly.

"Which ones?" Tai asked, staring up at the millions of shoes.

"Those." Arial reached out and pointed to his left. There sat a single Vans-brand black and blue shoe, just waiting for Arial to place on his feet. He stood on his toes and jumped, knocking the shoe of off its plastic shelf. It tumbled to the ground, landing firmly in Arial's hand.

"I'm going to go check for my size, be back in a few," he told the others as he bounced off to find a clerk. The other three stared at his retreating form in either amazement or pure curiosity.

"Amazing how he gets worked up over shoes, isn't it?" Daisuke chuckled, leaning back against the wall.

"Ari's got a rather…odd personality, doesn't he?" Tai countered with another question, involuntarily quirking up a chocolate eyebrow.

"Odd doesn't even begin to describe it. We like to say that Ari's special," Ryan said in response, looking around in all directions. His gaze fixated on Tai's beat-up sneakers. "Uh, maybe we should get you some new shoes while we're here too," he suggested, still eyeing the shoes in slight disgust.

"No, it's okay. These are perfectly fine," Tai protested. Daisuke leaned forward and examined Tai's shoes.

"Tai, what color are your shoes?" he asked his cousin, poking at the right shoe critically.

"Red. Or, they used to be about three years ago," Tai replied with a small grin, flexing his toes inside of his shoe. The shoes were a sorry sight to see, rather scruffy-looking and beat-up. There were a few miscellaneous holes and rips in both shoes. They were definitely out of date. Of course, one's shoes often reflected one's self. And it appeared that this was true in Tai's case. Daisuke's eyes raised up, getting a good look at his cousin. The boy's clothes weren't in any better condition then his shoes. His jeans had holes in the knees and the bottom of the left leg was ragged and torn up. His shirt was faded as well, no holes though.

'_Why didn't I notice this before?'_ The mahogany-haired boy shook his head in disgust with himself. He lost himself in his thoughts about being unobservant when Ryan decided to take over.

"Tai, those shoes are crap, and you know it," he remarked bluntly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills, shoving the bundle into Tai's hand.

"Go find something you like," he instructed, waving his hand vaguely at the walls. Tai's eyes widened in surprise and he shook his head furiously.

"No way, Ryan. I couldn't take this from you. I-I just couldn't," he stuttered as he tried to hand the money back to Ryan. Ryan wouldn't hear of it however.

"No way, kid. You are going to keep that money, find a decent pair of sneakers, **and** keep the change," Ryan demanded sternly.

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine, Tai. Just go." Ryan waved him off. Tai nodded and stood up, wandering off towards Arial who instantly dragged him to a different wall to show him something. Ryan let out a satisfied sigh and turned back, coming face-to-face with Daisuke. Neither boy spoke, Ryan waiting for Daisuke to speak, and Daisuke waiting for Ryan to explain. In the end, Daisuke started talking.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why'd you do it?"

"Did you really expect me to do otherwise?"

"No. But really Ry, you didn't have to do anything." Ryan shrugged and folded his hands behind his head.

"I know. I wanted to. I'm going to guess he didn't grow up in luxury."

"You're right."

"He's a lot like Arial, don't you think?" Ryan mused, glancing over to look Daisuke in the eye.

"Yeah…that's why you did it, isn't it?"

"Mainly. It just didn't seem right that I had money in my pocket that I was probably going to blow on cheese-fries and Tai didn't have any when he needed it to buy something like shoes. I'll work on getting him to accept money to buy new clothes later." Daisuke looked at his friend with a look of gratitude and admiration.

"You may not always act like it, but you are a great person, Ryan," Daisuke said, smiling at the boy.

"I know," the black-haired boy said self-confidently, returning the smile. They broke into laughter suddenly, relieved that they were thinking on the same level. Suddenly Arial and Tai both came running back towards them, shoe boxes under their arms.

"See, told you it wouldn't take long!" Arial stuck his tongue out.

"That's good to know for future reference," Ryan retorted, getting to his feet. Daisuke stood up as well and turned to Tai.

"What'd you find?" Tai pulled the box out from under his arm and opened it, lifting out one of the shoes.

"Classics. Converse high-tops, baby!" he replied, eyes sparkling with joy. The shoes were a navy blue color with white trimmings and laces. Tai turned around and looked at Ryan.

"Um…thanks for lending me the cash, Ryan," he spoke shyly, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out the remaining change and offered it to the other boy.

"No problem, Tai. And what did I tell you about the change? Keep it, it's yours," Ryan replied smoothly, ducking his own hands into his pockets.

"But I-"

"Am going to keep it like a good boy," the green-eyed teen finished for him. Tai closed his mouth and nodded, slipping the money back into his own pocket.

"Yes," he agreed, shifting the box to his other arm. Ryan pulled his keys out of his pocket and held them in front of the group.

"Who's ready to go?" Everybody agreed on that suggestion and left Just For Kicks, heading back out into the parking lot and climbing into Ryan's Mitsubishi Mirage to head back to the apartment.

* * *

As expected, Matt was nowhere to be found in the apartment when the boys arrived home. 

"Figures. He always just leaves when he feels like it," Arial snorted, throwing his new shoes down by the door.

"Your point being?" Tai asked vaguely, choosing to toss his shoes into his bedroom instead.

"I don't have one," Arial replied, gracefully dropping himself down on the couch. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV, randomly flipping through channels. Ryan walked out of the bathroom and sashayed over to the couch.

"Move your feet," he yawned, lifting Arial's legs up so he could sit down. Arial dropped his legs down on Ryan's lap as soon as he sat down.

"Gee, that looks real comfortable," Daisuke commented, walking out of the kitchen with an apple in his hand. He hopped over the back of the couch, landing on the arm of it. Arial lifted his head up, dragged Daisuke down into the spot to sit, and replaced his head into Daisuke's lap.

"Human bed for hire," Daisuke muttered, shifting Arial into a more comfortable position.

"Hey, it could be worse. Arial could weigh like 300 pounds," Ryan said jokingly, poking his blue-haired buddy in the side.

"Rude-much!" Arial protested, squirming away from the hand that was poking him. Tai shut the door to his room and walked towards the three figures on the couch. He sat on the coffee table facing them, waiting for them to acknowledge him. The older boys kept arguing, wiggling around in different positions, trying to gain the upper hand. It wasn't until Arial fell off of the couch and onto Tai that they noticed he was there. Arial looked up into Tai's face and grinned cheekily.

"Hello!" he chirped. Tai rolled his eyes and pushed Arial back onto the couch. He held the three elders' attention as he cleared his throat.

"Now, I'm pretty sure that you're all aware of the Yamato hating my skills situation," he started out.

"He doesn't hate your skills," Ryan said.

"Yeah, that's pretty much all that he likes about you," Arial confirmed, shifting around in Ryan's lap.

"Gee, thanks Ari. Anyway, what I'm thinking I need to do is learn a new, very difficult song that will impress him and make him eat his words," Tai continued on, leaning his elbows on his knees and resting his chin in his hands.

"Sounds like a good idea," Daisuke told him, pushing Arial's feet out his face. "Ari, your feet smell," he informed the other. In return, Arial stuck his tongue out.

"Hello! Focus!" Tai snapped his fingers, bringing the gazes back to him. "That's better. Now, as I was saying, I need to learn a new song. **But** I will need your guys' help if I'm going to pull it off. What do you think?" he asked. The three boys sat in silence, contemplating Tai's proposal. Slowly, Ryan nodded.

"Yeah sure, kid. We'll help ya out," he assured Tai. Arial and Daisuke were quick to agree.

"Awesome! Thanks you guys." Tai beamed, getting off of the table. "Can we start now?" he asked with a hopeful tone.

"**What!"** All three of them squawked.

"Well, I kind of wanted to show Matt by tomorrow," Tai simply stated.

"Why tomorrow?" Arial asked, climbing out of Ryan's lap. Tai shrugged and started walking to the practice room.

"I don't know. Just seems like a good day," he said, walking into the room. The three boys looked at each other, shrugged, and ran into the other room, awaiting Tai's commands.

"So, what song were you thinking? One of your own?" Daisuke asked, swiveling from side to side in his drum chair.

"No actually. I was thinking of this one song. It's off of Hoobastanks's newest album. I printed out music sheets for your respected instruments, except for Arial since I don't know what you play," Tai explained, handing out the assorted papers.

"I play nothing useful. So, what do you want me to do?" Arial asked.

"Just sit and supervise I suppose, since I'm going to be doing the singing and guitar work." Tai shrugged.

"Sounds fine to me," Arial agreed, walking over towards the computer.

"Lazy-ass," Daisuke whispered. Tai shook his head and turned to Ryan.

"Since you're on bass, do you think you could help me if I end up getting stuck?" he asked, picking his guitar up from the ground.

"Yeah sure, doesn't look too hard." Ryan grinned, grabbing his bass and putting the strap around his neck in one fluid motion.

"All right, are we ready?" Tai asked the other two.

"Go for it," Daisuke replied. Tai nodded and started playing the song. The other two jumped in at their respected parts and Tai started singing along. The first run was okay, a couple of rocky moments on Tai's part, but otherwise it was all right.

"Not bad, Yagami. Not bad at all," Ryan complimented him.

"Thanks. Go over it a few more times?" Tai asked.

"I think a few more times and you can show him tonight," Daisuke said.

"What!" Both Ryan and Tai snapped their heads around to look at Daisuke.

"Dais, are you insane?" Tai yelped.

"Possibly, but that's not the point. You're doing really good with this song. I think you could show him tonight. After a few more runs, of course," he explained rationally.

"I agree with Dais, you are doing well. But if you don't want to show him today, we'll wait until tomorrow," Ryan told him.

"We'll see how things go, okay?" Tai replied, playing a rift on his guitar. "Let's start it up again!" he bellowed. Once again, he started playing and the other two followed. He started singing when he suddenly halted.

"Hey Ari, I just thought of something," he told the blue-haired teen.

"That's amazing, thanks for sharing," Arial responded without looking up from his computer game.

"Arial!"

"What?" Arial looked up from the screen.

"You can sing back-up! I totally spaced through it."

"Uh, okay sure," Arial replied, pushing himself out of the computer chair. He walked over next to Tai and stole a copy of the lyrics.

"See, it's high-lighted where the back-up should be sang." Tai pointed to the green lines on the paper. Arial nodded and read over the lyrics.

"Awesome song."

"I thought so. All right, from the top, again," Tai said, playing on his guitar. The same process went on for a few more hours until the song was absolutely perfect.

"That sounds great," Tai declared, lifting his guitar off of his shoulder.

"Yeah it does. Better then what I thought," Daisuke agreed, throwing his drumsticks on the floor.

"Thanks," Tai said sarcastically, glaring at his cousin.

"Just joking."

"So it's decided then."

"What is?" Ryan asked.

"Going to show him tonight, just to prove I can handle this." Tai nodded in triumph.

"Are you sure?" Arial said in alarm, raising a dark eyebrow.

"Hell yeah, might as well bite it right in the ass. But first, dinner," Tai proclaimed, skipping out of the room and towards the kitchen. The other three once again looked at each other for an explanation.

"Okay, what happened to the shy kid who came here yesterday?" Ryan asked bluntly, putting his bass on the floor gently.

"I think he's too focused on getting his revenge on Matt at the moment to remember who we are, who he is, and **where** he is." Daisuke concluded.

"That's just freaky," Arial remarked.

"No shit it is," Ryan agreed. "But he's right; it is about time for dinner." Agreeing all the way, the other boys walked out of the room and joined Tai in the kitchen. They were greeted however by someone else as well.

"Hey Matt," Arial said cheerfully. Matt gave him a ghost of a smile and placed a large plastic bag on the counter.

"The pastrami is Ryan's, the ham is Daisuke's, the salami and ham is Arial's and Tai, Daisuke told me that you liked turkey, so that's what I got you," he said in an indifferent tone. He grabbed his own sandwich out of the bag and walked away to his own room, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

"Well, at least he was considerate this time," Daisuke commented, reaching in for his dinner.

"Probably his way of apologizing without saying I'm sorry." Ryan shrugged, tossing Arial his sandwich and pulling out his. Tai walked over and pulled his out of the bag, unwrapping it slowly.

"Tai, it won't bite. They're actually pretty good," Arial laughed, taking another bite of his sandwich. Tai sniffed at the bread cautiously, breaking off a little piece of the sandwich. He placed it into his mouth and chewed on it. It wasn't that bad, truth be told. He ate the rest of his dinner without complaint. He waited until the others were done eating as well before he made his move.

"Now," was all he said.

"Right now?" Daisuke groaned.

"C'mon Tai, there's a good basketball game going on right now!" Arial protested, eyes glued to the screen.

"Guys, please?" Tai begged them.

"Five more minutes," Ryan muttered, also glued to the screen. Tai growled in frustration and walked towards them. He reached out and unplugged the TV, bringing all three of them out of their reverie.

"Hey, what the hell?" was the main reaction to Tai's action.

"Look you guys, we need to do this like, **now**, before he decides to leave again or something," Tai persuaded them.

"You really want to do this?" Daisuke sighed. Tai nodded enthusiastically. "All right, Arial, go get Matt," Daisuke yawned, rising to his feet once more that day. Tai grinned widely and ran to the other room, Daisuke and Ryan following behind him. The three teens grabbed their instruments and got into place just as Arial and Matt walked in.

"All right, what's going on?" Matt asked them. Tai stepped forward so that he was eye-to-eye with the blonde.

"You wanted me to prove myself. Here it is," he said in a low tone. He whipped around and back to his guitar.

"This is just something I learned today. Hope you like it," he directed to the blonde. He started up the guitar rifts, waiting for the other two to start playing. Then he opened his mouth and began to sing.

"This is ours, we made it with our everything, something real, as real as it could ever be," he sang out, allowing his voice to flow smoothly. The song in general made him feel like he was making a point to the blue-eyed man, playing his guitar steadily. Slowly but surely the song came to an end.

"Who cares if you don't like, if you don't like it, if you don't like it!" Tai ended with a final note and an abrupt stop to his voice. Needless to say, Matt appeared speechless. With a satisfied smirk, Tai strolled up to Matt and placed his hands on his hips.

"So, how was **that** for proving myself?" he said smoothly. Matt remained quiet for a short while before he replied.

"It could have been a bit better, but good enough I suppose," he said with an air of elegance, staying in his seat with a smug grin on his face.

"**Could have been better? What the hell!"** Tai screamed and dropped his guitar on the floor, getting up in Matt's face.

"Wow, sometimes Matt can be worse then Simon Cowell," Arial whispered thoughtfully.

"Ari, you watch too much American television," Ryan whispered back. Matt merely smirked wider.

"Your voice was shaky, your fingers kept tripping, your sound was off," the blonde listed off.

"Shut up!" Tai shouted and reached out without warning, colliding his fist into the side of Matt's face. The room fell silence, the only sounds being the clock ticking and Tai's ragged breathing. Matt reached up and touched his cheek gingerly, frowning slightly before bringing his hand back down.

"Fair enough," he said and turned on his heel, walking out of the room rather stiffly. The other three boys exchanged wiry smiles and laughed nervously.

"Tai it was absolutely perfect; don't bother listening to Matt's technicalities," Daisuke reassured his cousin. Tai blinked and nodded.

"Yeah, right. Whatever, I'm going to bed, night," he said briefly, leaving the room as well.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Arial asked, a small pout forming on his face.

"Not really. Just keep Tai's mind off of Matt's negativity. There's not much we can do to change Matt." Ryan shrugged.

"True." Daisuke nodded. He glanced at the clock on the back wall, yawning once more. "You know, I'm going to hit the sack too if we're getting up tomorrow for a run. I'll see if Tai wants to come too," he told the others.

"Okay, see you in the morning," Ryan replied, waving him off.

"Night, Dais," Arial chorused after Ryan, suppressing his own yawn. Rubbing his temples slightly and stretched his arms and blinked hard. "I'm going to bed too," he decided as Daisuke left the room.

"You and me both dude," Ryan mumbled. Both boys turned out the lights and proceeded to drag themselves to bed.

* * *

The next morning, Daisuke walked into Tai's room bright and early. To his own surprise, Tai was already awake. The brunet was lying in his bed with his arms crossed behind his head, staring up at the ceiling 

"Wow, you're up quite early, aren't you?" Daisuke noted, sitting at the foot of Tai's bed.

"Yeah, woke up about 15 minutes ago," the younger boy informed him. Daisuke nodded and smiled.

"Since you're up, you wanna go running with me, Arial, and Ryan?"

"Running where?"

"Just through the park for a little while." Tai's eyes lit up and he sat straight up in bed.

"Yeah, okay. Sounds like fun." he smiled. Daisuke ruffled his hair and got off of the bed.

"That's the spirit. Meet you in the living room in 20 minutes," he told him, walking out of the room.

"Okay," Tai replied. He jumped out of bed and pulled a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans out of his closet. With record-breaking speed, he changed clothes and bolted into the bathroom to brush his teeth and fight with his hair. Deciding that his hair wasn't going to serve him any justice, he left it alone and walked out into the living room where the others were waiting for him.

"Morning, everybody," Tai said cheerfully.

"Good morning, kid. Sleep good, I take it?" Ryan asked, shrugging a forest-green hooded sweatshirt over his white T-shirt.

"Yeah, really good actually," Tai replied.

"So, as soon as Matt gets out here, we'll take off then," Arial said from his place on the couch where he was tying his shoe.

"Wait, Matt?" Tai froze in his place.

"No, Matt said he's not going this morning. Something about trying to book us at a club and that the phone call should be in about an hour," Daisuke cut in.

"All right, let's go then." Tai bounced back to his positive attitude. The group walked to the front hall and ran out the door, slamming it with a resounding thud, thanks to Tai. As soon as that door slammed, a blonde head poked out of a room.

"Good, they took off," he said to himself. He walked out of his room, car keys in hand, as he headed for the front hall as well. He swung the door open and shut it swiftly, not as loudly as Tai had.

"Let's just hope I make it back before they do," he murmured as he rode the lift down to the parking lot.

The four boys returned back to the apartment, mildly wet and out of breath.

"Well, that was fun," Tai panted, leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, who knew the sprinklers were on this early in the morning?" Arial replied, shaking his head to dry out his hair.

"Watch it!" Ryan scolded, pushing Arial away.

"Whatever, I claim the shower first!" Daisuke called out, racing into the bathroom at top-speed, shutting the door behind him.

"Damn him," Ryan and Arial cursed. Both soon forgot about it however once they noticed Scooby Doo was on. Tai shook his head in amusement and headed for his own bedroom. He walked inside and shut the door behind him. He turned around and pulled his sweatshirt off over his head, throwing it towards his closet. Once his vision had cleared, it was then he noticed.

"What the?" He walked closer to his bed. Lying across it was a glimmering red and black electric guitar. He picked the guitar up into his hands, fingering the different designs and strings. Hanging from it was what used to be the price tag, but instead was a piece of paper with a dollar sign on it. Stapled to the dollar sign was a note.

'_Welcome to the band, kid._

_Yamato.'_

* * *

Edited, song used was Let It Out by Hoobastank, if you read the lyrics or listen to the song, you see why I felt it fit. 

Converse high-tops rock. End of story.


	4. Fahrenheit 91

Yes, a new chapter. But first, replies!

Kelset: Boink! I always make you look like an ass, don't I? P I know that's something you would do, lol. NO PESTER! You already pester me.

Yakari Taito aka Luna Wolf: Glad you liked the ending, here's the continuation. Is that a word?

LK: LK! –Glomps- Don't worry LK, I haven't grown out of my grade-school ways either, just ask Kelset, lol. I set myself right up for it, I couldn't resist saying that Matt was like Simon. Snickerdoodle…isn't that a cookie? I continued LK-K. I WON AT MY COMPETITION! YAY!

HIKED: A lot of people enjoyed the ending, lol. I didn't take ages this time, I promise! Yamachi will come with good time, can't rush it ;).

Ace-Pilot-Wolf X: Your name suddenly got very long. I have no secret! I AM NOT SPIDER-GIRL! –hides Spider-Man costume- I know there were mistakes, but do you REALLY think I want to go back and proofread 18 pages at like, 11:30pm? NO! I got rid of a few, but the crappy ones nobody cared about, lol. I GOT FIRST AT COMPETITION! WHEE! Ryamon says to tell Gygomon to stuff his head in a garbage disposal and die. –shrugs-.

DawnAurilain: To be honest myself, so do I. But there was no way I could make this a Taito, not in a way that would make sense. Most of my other stories are Taitos.

shadow-seraph: French is BAD! I took it two years ago and I HATED it! I won at competition! Makes me happy. –Hands over the Sasuke keychain- Thankies. Glad you liked the chapter.

Sen-Tay: You like telling me I rock don't you? Lol. I love Tai in this fic! He's so fun to write. High tops are awesome! I don't know about the button either. I won at competition, so I be happy!

BlueRag: Okay then.

Sillie: Yeah, a soft bad-ass. Cute.

Mrs. Passionate: I feel loved, lol. Or else what! P

The Real BlueRag: I have nothing to say to you since I know who you are. P

minnermon: Thanks! I love Arial; he's so fun to write! Yama will become more fun later on, but right now my favorites are Tai and Arial. Here's an update!

nEo-cHaN: I know I'm the best, neo! Lol, j/k I'm not conceited. I WON AT MY DANCE COMPETITION! Makes me all warm and happy inside . Yeah, we're cool! Don't worry about not working on stuff; I keep starting new stuff instead of writing the old stuff, which is just as bad. OMG I HAVE THE CUTEST IDEA FOR A FIC THAT I WILL POST SOON! I started working on it and then I decided to work on this instead.

PrincessSwifty: YAY I UPDATED! Wake up Tai and Yama! Tai: What's a kudo? Shut up Tai. Anyway, I love the song too. GO ANNOY LK! And I shall help WHEE!

DarkMetalAngel of Destruction: This isn't soon but I updated!

Melissa-O: It's ok that it's not a long review, the one you left was plenty long . I disliked him treating Tai badly too, but it had to be done. I won at competition! Happiness galore! Ooh hope you had fun with your hip hop and jazz thing. Don't worry about not talking to me, I understand completely P

Inuyasha-Luv-Kagome: Feel free to hug Yama! He's just weird. Hope you update chapter 5 soon! And I'll be asking info about Akira and yourself later on. LONG LIVE THE LONG STRIPED SOX!

nicki-gurl: I'm sorry to make you wait so long! GUILT TRIP HAS BEEN CAUSED! Lol, but no seriously, here's more for your enjoyment.

Redvind: Clues huh? Ok, yea I'm dropping clues about Tai's maturity and his family, but I don't quite get what you meant about hints about Daisuke and how he and Matt were in love? Do you mean Tai and Matt or Matt and Dais? I AM SO LOST!

Maira: Heh, pretty damn close. Glad you like the style and the twists. Hopefully this wasn't so long of a wait.

Redrum: Ryan is sweet. –pinches Ryan's cheeks- I think almost everybody liked the ending, lol. Here's the next chapter.

Heaven's Angel Chick: Thanks, here's more!

aran: Glad you like it, the rest is stored in my head for the time being. I'm being slow about getting it out, but it will all be out soon. (I hope…)

lugga: Well thank you very much, lol. Here's the next chapter. Love me, huh? P

Prima-chan: I feel very honored PC. YES! Originality was what I was aiming for! I put a lot of thought into the character development and portrayal of each person before I started writing this out. Glad to know I did something right, lol. I updated when I could, hope this was soon enough.

Yamachi Rainbow: Glad you love it, I updated! Thanks for putting me on your favorites list!

Araya Arwen: Thanks. Different was what I was aiming for. Here's the newest chapter.

Tenshi Kaprio: AHH! BARNEY! -shoots Barney- There I feel better. EVERYBODY loved the ending, lol. Here's the next chapter, because I don't wanna end up like you, lol. P

keikokaiba: Thanks, I'm attempting to make it longer :S.

puppy-eyes58: I am glad that you think this is really good. I hurried but I am albeit slow on updating, sorry.

the one who posses Insanity: Y'know, your name fits me. Very well. Have you even read the rest of the fic, lol? And yes, the song fits EVERYBODY! HAHAHAHA!

Burning Angemon: Aw, thanks! Here's an update for this one and Black will be soon, hopefully by next week.

Ok, that's everybody. 33 in all. I thank you all so much! –hands out a bunch of chocolate roses- YAY!

Ok, also to all of you who wished me good luck at my competition, I thank you as well. We did very well actually. Not that you care, but I'm gonna tell you anyway, lol. My team ourselves had 4 dances to do. We got 1st for all four in our age groups, and then for two of them we got 2nd grand champion/overall. We also landed ourselves in the top ten, which is pretty big. Overall we did very good.

Keep in mind that this chapter starts on the same day Tai got his new guitar.

ALSO! This chapter is dedicated to Mrs. Passionate because she helped me get this download thingy so that I could listen to the song Vacation to write this chapter. THANK YOU SO MUCH! –glomps and gives MP a bouquet of chocolate roses-

* * *

"So he finally accepted you, huh?" Daisuke asked from his place at his desk, not bothering to look up from his Civics book. 

"Yeah, it's crazy. I'm still half-expecting the guitar to explode in my face or something," Tai replied with a small smirk. He continued to stare up at Daisuke's ceiling from his position on the bed. The ceiling was actually rather interesting to look at. Although, there was something just a tad bit disturbing about it.

"Uh, Dais?"

"What?" the older responded, reaching into his schoolbag for a new piece of paper.

"Who is that?" Tai questioned his cousin, pointing up to one of the various posters of a girl on the ceiling. She had strawberry-blonde hair that reached her mid-back and large, innocent honey-colored eyes. Quite pretty really, but it was still slightly strange that she was all over the ceiling.

"You're joking right?" Daisuke responded, more as a statement then an actual question.

"…no?"

"You've never heard of Princess Mimi?"

"Nu-uh."

"Never?"

"No."

"What planet have **you** been on?"

"Uh, Zenon?"

"Shut up."

"But really, who is she?" Daisuke sighed and looked up from his paper at last. He swiveled around in his chair to where he was facing Tai.

"Princess Mimi is a really famous pop singer in America. She's right around our age, 17 I think, she's released two CDs, both of which went platinum, but the latest one is on its way to going diamond."

"Diamond?"

"Ten times more then platinum. Anyways, she's awesome. She is like the most awesome person."

"Have you met her before?" Tai asked, looking up at the ceiling again. There were a few Linkin Park posters scattered into the mesh of Princess Mimi posters, along with one different one right above the bed. It showed the words, "My Imaginary Friend Thinks You Have Serious Issues" in a white bold print at the top. Underneath it were two cartoon characters. One was light blue with a white dashed outline and the other was a solid figure with dark blue pants and a red shirt. The solid one had one finger moving up and down over his lips with a bit of drool coming out of the side of his mouth, while the transparent one had an eyebrow raised. Tai couldn't help but laugh. Daisuke's face contorted into a look of confusion before he looked up a little ways, suddenly understanding what was so amusing to the younger boy.

"Like that? Ari got it for me as a birthday present a while back." Daisuke grinned proudly.

"That's hilarious. I mean, the picture is so perfect," Tai huffed out in between giggles.

"I thought so too. Anyway, to answer your question, no I've never met her before. I'd love to though," Daisuke added as an afterthought.

"Only because she's your biggest obsession ever," a new voice joined their conversation. The two cousins whipped their heads around to face the door.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Daisuke scowled at the smirking bluenette who was casually leaning against the doorframe.

"Yeah, I've heard of it, but it takes all the fun out of everything." Arial's light blue eyes twinkled mischievously.

"What's going on, Ari?" Tai asked the oldest boy, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Matt sent me in here to tell you that we're having a meeting in five minutes. Says he has some exciting news for us. Following the meeting will be a 45 minute practice. Then dinner will be served. Tonight we're having tacos," Arial read off of his palm.

"Thank you, Mr. Itinerary." Daisuke rolled his eyes and pushed his chair away from his desk. "Can't we do this some other time? I have a big term paper due tomorrow. And when I say big, let me emphasize **big**!" he exclaimed, holding up the collection of papers he had been poring over for the past few hours of that afternoon. Arial firmly shook his head and walked over to the bed, yanking Tai up by the arm.

"Nope, sorry Dais, Matt said now. And when he says now, he emphasizes **now**!" Arial mimicked Daisuke and headed for the door, dragging Tai behind him. Like in many situations with Arial, Daisuke merely shook his head and went along with things. The three boys walked down the hall and into the practice room where Matt and Ryan were already deep in discussion. Tai closed the door behind him and they moved closer to the other two. Matt motioned for the other four to sit down at the table. As soon as the boys were seated, excluding himself, he started speaking.

"As you all know, now that we have our fifth and final member, again, we can officially do something with this band," the blonde began, meeting the others' eyes.

"What do you mean do something?" Tai questioned cautiously. Matt's cerulean blue eyes flickered on the young brunet briefly before breaking contact.

"Meaning, we can start off fresh. Start making a name for ourselves, playing places, trying to get the record deal we've been searching for. Does that make sense?" he asked the group.

"Yeah, it makes sense, but what does all of that have to do with anything?" Daisuke raised an eyebrow, propping his chin up with the palm of his hand.

"It has to do with everything and anything, Dais."

"Start talking then," Arial inserted, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair, causing the front legs of it to rise into the air.

"I'm going to laugh when you fall backwards out of that chair," Matt told the blue-haired boy.

"I'm not going to fall. Now start talking about this big news you have," Arial replied.

"Do you recall hearing about that new club that opened downtown?" Matt questioned the band.

"Fahrenheit 91," Ryan answered.

"Yeah, that one." Matt nodded in agreement.

"Okay, what about it?" Daisuke asked curiously.

"Every Thursday night, they headline the newest bands in the area."

"Headline?" Tai repeated.

"Headline. They let the bands go and play and then they review the band in the next day's paper."

"Do we even get a paper on Fridays?" Arial cut in.

"Shut up, Ari," Ryan retorted. Matt rolled his eyes and continued.

"**Anyway!"** he said loudly, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "I applied an application for us to play there last week. This morning they called, and they agreed to let us come and play from 9 to 10 this Thursday night." Silence fell upon the room as the other boys took the time to let Matt's words sink in.

"You're saying we actually have a gig **this** Thursday?" Daisuke squeaked, blinking in disbelief.

"Yep, we have a gig **this** Thursday." Matt repeated. As soon as these words left his mouth, a loud crash was heard. All of them turned towards the source of the noise, which happened to have been Arial falling from his chair.

"Don't even say it, Matt," he warned the smirking blonde, picking himself up from the floor.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Matt replied innocently, looking away from Arial.

"Sure." Arial frowned, sitting down in his chair properly this time.

"Okay, so as I was saying, we need to prepare ourselves for this show. We have four days, excluding Thursday and counting today. We need to decide what songs we want to play, which songs need to be practiced, actually all of them need to be practiced so ignore that, and all this other crap I have floating in my mind. We'll spend mornings and afternoons practicing, only about an hour and a half each since I'm thinking we only need three songs."

"Why three? Aren't we there for an hour?" Tai asked. Matt stared at the brunet, amazed that he was actually speaking. This was unusual for Taichi Yagami to speak civilly, let alone to him.

"Because, we're not the only band playing, they just want us to show up in that time frame. They've got two other bands lined up for that night."

"Which bands?" Ryan asked, closing his eyes briefly.

"Final Countdown and the Backward Jeans."

"The Backward Jeans?" Daisuke snorted. "Great name."

"Dais, now is not the time for nitpicking. Right now we need to practice all of our songs and figure out which ones we want to play. So up! Let's get a move on people!" Matt instructed them, clapping his hands together. The other four groaned in protest but got up anyway, as they didn't want their 'leader' to snap. They all walked over to the other side of the room where their instruments were.

"Okay, so we have Daisuke on drums, Ryan on bass, Tai on guitar and back-up vocals, Arial on back-up vocals and me on guitar and lead vocals. Sound fair?"

"Yeah, extremely." Arial grinned.

"You are so lazy," Ryan said to his best bud, who in turn stuck his tongue out.

"Not my fault all I know how to play is violin and piano." Arial shrugged.

"Stop bickering and save it for later," Matt interjected, picking up his guitar.

"Fine." Ryan picked up his bass and ignored Arial.

"So what songs do we want to try first?" Arial asked.

"Let's go with Worst Day Ever first." Matt suggested.

"Okay. Whatever works," Daisuke replied, pulling his drum sticks out of his pocket. Tai and Matt started playing their guitar parts while Ryan and Daisuke jumped in at the right parts. Arial stood there waiting for his own parts, and Matt opened his mouth and started to sing.

"6 a.m., the clock is ringing, I need to spend an hour snoozing, cause I don't think I'm gonna make it," Tai and Arial jumped in on the last part on time. The rest of the song flowed smoothly and came to a steady halt.

"Not bad, not bad at all I say," Matt said nonchalantly, adjusting his guitar shoulder strap.

"Are we going to play it on Thursday?" Arial asked, picking at a hangnail.

"Leave the hangnail alone, Ari, and I don't know. I still think that we should go through all of our songs and pick out which three we want to use on Thursday."

"Hey, Matt, suggestion?" Ryan cut in.

"What?"

"Why don't we **all** decide what we want to do, instead of just you?"

"Because it's **my** band!" Matt shot back.

"It's not just **your** band, dude, it's **our** band. Didn't we already have this discussion?" Daisuke asked pointedly.

"Ugh, you don't get it! I know it's our band, but I make a majority of the decisions. Right?"

"So what? We should still help you make a majority of those decisions," Arial argued.

"I don't know why, I'm doing perfectly fine myself!" Matt all but shouted at the bluenette.

"Actually Matt, I think they're right," Tai said warily. All four pairs of eyes turned onto the young brunet.

"Excuse me?"

"I think they're right," Tai repeated, stronger then before. Matt raised a fine blonde eyebrow and approached Tai.

"You know what?" Matt growled in a low voice, staring directly into Tai's mud-colored orbs.

"What?" Tai challenged the blonde boy, staring right back. Matt huffed and shrugged his shoulders.

"You're absolutely right." he waved his hand casually, turning on his heel away from the brunette.

"I-wha?" Tai tripped over his words.

"You're right. So what's our first decision, guys?" Matt asked the group, looking at them through his lashes. Needless to say, none of the boys knew what to do or say. This was the first time Matt had even suggested that they help him in any way. Arial decided to be bold and take charge.

"I say our first decision should be to skip practice and eat. Besides, Dais has a term paper and we wouldn't want our little Dai-Dai failing, now would we?" Arial winked at the cinnamon-eyed boy and sauntered into the kitchen.

"Y'know, I totally agree…" Daisuke yawned and walked out as well, following Arial into the kitchen where the tacos were waiting for them.

"…**no! The tacos!**" Ryan exclaimed suddenly and raced after the other two boys, leaving Matt and Tai in the room alone.

"Um…" Tai started to say.

"Yeah," Matt finished and both boys turned and walked out. The scene they were greeted with was Arial and Daisuke standing behind the counter pigging out on tacos and Ryan throwing lettuce at them, demanding that they share.

"Can't you guys ever act like adults?" Matt scowled and seized a taco from Daisuke's plate when he wasn't looking.

"Of course not Matt, we're not adults yet...so why bother?" Daisuke replied, smacking Matt's hand away from his plate.

"Because, if we want to **look** professional to get a deal, we need to **act **professional, got it?" the blonde replied, munching on the taco.

"C'mon 'Mato, lighten up. We don't need to be professional in our very home. That's just crazy," Ryan jumped in, picking a piece of lettuce out of his black locks that was thrown back at him.

"Well still. If we don't at least practice acting professional, who's to say that we can be when the time comes?"

"Matt. Shut up. You're all about practicing **everything!** Take a Ritalin or something, jeeze," Arial scoffed, swallowing a bite of food.

"Bite me," Matt shot back.

"Okay." Arial shrugged and dropped his taco, walking over to Matt and biting his shoulder.

"**Ow! Damn Blue, I wasn't serious!"** Matt yelped, yanking his arm away from the blue-haired boy.

"You know I'm very literal." Arial winked and hopped back up on the counter, grasping his taco once more.

"You're an idiot, Natsaki," Matt grumbled, walking over to the refrigerator.

"Thanks." Matt shook his head and took a bottle of water out of the icebox.

"Look, you all finish eating, Daisuke work on your paper, and the rest of you think of what songs we want to work on tomorrow morning," he instructed the boys, swiftly grabbing another taco.

"Hate to bust your bubble dude, but Dais and I still have school…we can't stick around for morning practice," Tai cut in, also taking a taco from Daisuke's plate.

"Why is everybody stealing my food?" Daisuke cried, covering his plate with his arms.

"Because it's easy," Tai said off-handedly and looked at Matt, expecting a reply.

"You are just a little chatterbox aren't you?" Matt muttered and turned around. "So why not just skip school for a few days?" he suggested in a louder voice.

"Or why don't we just not?" Tai replied nonchalantly, leaning against the counter and crossing his legs.

"What harm could it do?" Matt pressed on.

"Uh, gee, I wonder…I'm expected to pass the tenth grade! I can't do that if I ditch school!"

"Why not?"

"I'm already failing a few classes…but that's none of your business. Bottom line is, we can't," Tai finished, biting into his dinner. Matt groaned and placed his palm on his forehead.

"Fine, whatever. Just figure out songs. I'm going to my room," Matt muttered and turned around, walking away from the other boys and closing his bedroom door.

"Well, that went rather well." Daisuke gave Tai a lopsided grin.

"Whatever happened to the statement about blondes being happy and stupid?" Arial asked.

"They changed that statement to apply to bluenettes instead," Ryan drawled out, stretching his sore limbs.

"Oh…wait, did not!" Said bluenette retaliated once he realized the meaning behind Ryan's remark. Ryan merely grinned and flicked Arial in the nose.

"If your hair wasn't naturally blue, I'd wonder about the blonde potential," he replied, ruffling Arial's hair as he walked over to the couch.

"Your hair's really blue? Like, it's really natural?" Tai raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Yeah…my mom was exposed to this weird chemical at her job when she was pregnant with me so it changed my DNA to give me blue hair instead of sandy blonde like most of my brothers. I don't know exactly but it seems logical." Arial nodded, jumping over the back of the couch and landing next to Ryan.

"That's just weird." Tai wrinkled his nose in thought and meandered over towards the other two. Daisuke tossed his plate into the kitchen sink and wiped his hands on his jeans.

"I'd love to stay and chat with you lovely people, but I have a date with Lady Civics." Daisuke mock-bowed and grinned.

"And people say **I'm** weird." Arial shook his head, taking the remote out from between the arm of the couch and the cushion he was sitting on.

"You are. Now if you excuse me, I am going to lock myself in my room until I finish that stupid term paper." Daisuke cocked his finger at the boys and winked, sauntering into his bedroom and also closing the door.

"You all worry me…immensely," Tai decided, curling up in a recliner kitty-corner from the couch.

"Oh don't worry. It'll only be a matter of time before you're one of us!" Ryan laughed.

"Joy!" Tai rolled his eyes and laughed as well.

'_This isn't so bad…these guys are all right. I could get very well adjusted to this.'_ The brunet thought to himself just as a game controller was thrown at him and he was added into a game of Tony Hawk's ProSkater 4.

* * *

The days dragged on slowly for the five boys of, as Ryan put it, Name Unavailable. It was on Wednesday that things started getting intense. 

"Hey you guys, we still need a name," Tai brought up casually as he sat by the computer with a bag of sour cream and onion chips.

"We have names. Arial, Tai, Matt-" Arial started listing off on his fingers.

"No not like that." Tai shook his head, cutting the older boy off before he could continue any further.

"We can pick out a name later. We still need to run through some songs. We only have two picked out and we need one more," Matt cut in, flipping through a music magazine.

"I thought we had three?" Daisuke questioned as he spun around on his drum stool.

"We do. He means we need to see if it's good enough," Ryan interpreted while playing different notes on his bass.

"We **did**. We agreed it was perfectly fine. We agreed **everything** was already ready for tomorrow night. What more is there to discuss?" Arial pointed out.

"Um, hello! A lot! Like who's singing what parts and what instruments go where and how long each song is and-" Matt stopped rambling as Daisuke placed a hand over his mouth.

"Matt, we know this is the first gig we've had since like forever, but you **have** to chill! Now remember, we know who's singing what, we know what instrument goes in which part of the melody, and we know that one song is two minutes and thirty-two seconds, another song is two minutes and twenty-five seconds, and the last song is two minutes and fifty-eight seconds. We went through all of this yesterday," The burgundy-haired boy explained in a calm voice, the kind you would use with a toddler who was throwing a tantrum. Matt might as well have been a toddler at this point. The blonde ran both hands through his hair and grabbed two fistfuls, yanking as hard as he could.

"You are all very frustrating right now," he growled and stormed into the kitchen. The other four boys breathed out similar sighs and followed their blonde leader.

"Um, Matt?" Ryan called out tentatively. The ocean-eyed boy ignored Ryan and took out an apple and a knife, proceeding to slice the fruit.

"Matt look, just relax. Everything is perfectly fine," Arial tried reasoning with the blonde. Matt continued to tune out his band mates and slice the apple.

"Good grief, Matt, say something!" Tai exclaimed.

"**Ow!"** Matt hollered, dropping the knife and apple he was holding. The other four boys crowded around the blonde.

"Matt? What happened?" Daisuke questioned, moving closer to the other boy.

"Shit…cut my finger open," Matt hissed, shoving his finger into his mouth. Ryan sighed and stepped forward, grabbing Matt's wrist.

"Let me look," he said softly, pulling Matt's index finger out of his mouth. Ryan winced and shook his head.

"Pretty deep cut…Ari can you ge-"

"Already ahead of you, Rys," Arial interrupted him, thrusting a first-aid kit into his hand.

"Thanks," Ryan replied and began to work on Matt's finger. In no time it was bandaged up.

"Does it hurt?" the black-haired boy asked.

"A little, not too much though…but now we have a problem," Matt stated grimly.

"What problem?" Daisuke asked.

"If I have an injured finger...I can't play my guitar solos. I can still play the regular music, just not the solo," the lead vocalist explained.

"What's **that** suppose to mean? If you can play the regular guitar parts you should be able to play your solo!" Arial exclaimed.

"No I can't. So, we need a new plan. And I have the perfect one…" Matt trailed off, stopping his gaze on Tai. The mud-eyed boy stopped munching on part of the apple that didn't have Matt's blood on it and stared at the older boy.

"What…" he said slowly.

"You! You can play the solo!" Matt suddenly shouted, causing the youngest boy to choke on the piece of apple in his mouth.

"Excuse me? I can't play your solo! That's **your** solo. Not mine!" Tai exclaimed.

"Just do it, Yagami," Matt snarled one last time before he headed to his room. The bedroom door closed behind the blonde, leaving behind a stunned group of teens.

"Well…guess you learn the part!" Daisuke said enthusiastically, dragging his cousin into the practice room.

"Why me?" The young male moaned and followed the cinnamon-eyed boy reluctantly to his guitar.

* * *

It was finally Thursday. The big Thursday night that they would get to show Odaiba what they were made of. 

"Everybody ready?" Matt asked as he fiddled with the collar of his white button-up dress shirt. He was also wearing a pair of loose dark blue jeans.

"Ready as we'll ever be!" Daisuke grinned cheerfully, twirling his drumsticks around in his fingers. The drummer was wearing a red shirt with a picture of a dysfunctional clown and read 'Too Many Freaks, Too Few Circuses.' He was also wearing a pair of khaki slacks.

"You guys we still need a name," Arial reminded the boys, smoothing out his black T-shirt that read the same thing as Daisuke's poster in his bedroom. He also smoothed out his blue jeans.

"The Frontwards Jeans?" Ryan said jokingly. The bassist was wearing a short-sleeve button-down shirt left open with a navy blue shirt underneath. He also wore black jeans.

"Guys we have five minutes to decide!" The last member of the group declared, feeling rather flustered. He was wearing a blue Ataris shirt and dark green pants.

"Um…Endzone?" Arial suggested.

"We're not football players. What about Blue Collar?" Matt put in.

"No way, **Pizzablast**!" Tai yelled. Everyone shushed him and quieted down.

"I have one," Daisuke said quietly, gaining their full attention.

"Spit it out Dais, what is it?" Matt asked impatiently.

"The Teenage Wolves," Daisuke stated proudly. The four other boys blinked in curiosity.

"Why…" Tai started out.

"Because wolves are animals that can survive on their own yet adjust to living in a pack. We've all survived rough lives on our own and now we're coming together to make a good life. And we are all teenagers anyway. It just fits!" he explained, obviously very proud to have thought of it all by himself.

"Yo boys, you're on!" one of the stage crew members announced to the boys. Matt looked at the others and grinned as they huddled up.

"Well, this is it guys. We're ready. Knock 'em dead," he whispered confidently and broke away from the circle.

"Name?" someone asked the boys.

"The Teenage Wolves," Matt replied instantly. Daisuke gave him a wide grin that Matt returned just as wide.

"Ladies and Gents, put your hands together for our opening act: The Teenage Wolves!" the MC announced. All five boys burst out from backstage and into their destined spots. Matt grinned at the audience and walked up to the lead microphone.

"Hey everybody, how you doing tonight?" Matt drawled out, working the crowd up into more excitement. Cheers rose up in the crowds. Matt grinned and nodded.

"Great to know! But before we show you how it's done, let's introduce ourselves all right? On the drums we have Motomiya Daisuke. Bass is Kinomita Ryan. Lead Guitarist and backup vocals are Yagami Taichi. Backup vocals are Natsaki Arial. And you've got myself, Ishida Yamato you best call me Matt, on lead guitar and lead vocals." The crowd cheered for the boys once more.

"All right, enough small talk…let's get this party started!" the blonde yelled into the microphone, picking up his guitar. He started off with a sharp, repetitive guitar riff and allowed the other instruments to join in too before he started to sing.

"Storming through the party like my name was El Niño, when I'm hanging out drinking in the back of an el Camino," he sang out, followed by extra vocals from Tai and Arial. The sound was loud and pumping, drawing the crowd into the party.

"Waste my time with them, casualty of society, waste my time again, victim of your conformity, and back down!" The song ended with a few extra guitar riffs from Tai and Matt and extra drum beats from Daisuke. The audience exploded with cheers at the end. Matt grinned and tried to catch his breath before continuing.

"You thought that was pretty good huh?" he asked. His only response was more cheering and yells amidst the group of teens at the club.

"Well, now we get something very new…I'm handing over the lead of lead singer to Arial. Give it up for Blue everybody!" Matt clapped, causing the crowd to go in an uproar as Matt and Arial traded spots. Arial waved at the crowd and beamed.

"Hey everybody! This is just a little something I wrote for a girl I used to know…hope you guys like it," he said with a smile and took a deep breath, signaling Ryan to start playing.

"Josie, you're my source of most frustration, forget when I don't meet expectations, everything you wished came true, in the end we all blamed you, even though, as they all know, you weren't the only one, two, three, four.." Arial trailed off, allowing the other boys to jump in with their instruments. He started singing faster, words spilling out of his lips in an upbeat fashion. The song was interesting to say the least and the crowd looked on with wide eyes, everybody wondering how somebody could have that much lung power. Arial slowed down immensely and the music started to fade out.

"And she said na na na na na..." he stopped singing and grinned broadly, waving at the audience as the cheers erupted once more. He walked back to his original spot and gave Matt the limelight.

"That was Natsaki Arial ladies and gents, wasn't he awesome?" Matt asked. The applause certainly said he indeed was awesome. Matt quieted the audience and smiled again.

"All right, all right, let's calm down. We have one more number for you tonight. It's a new piece that we wrote last week. Hope you enjoy it," he wished the audience luck. He nodded to Tai to start the guitar part before he started singing.

I know a girl who's obsessed with a guy, she talks for hours and still tomorrow she'll call again, and when he thinks that this could be the end, she calls again," Matt's voice flowed out, leaving the other boys to play their instruments. The song went on for a while, including the chorus, another verse and another chorus before the highlight of the song came into play.

"I never liked you I never wanted you I never liked you I never wanted you," Matt trailed off, focusing his attention on the youngest member of the band.

This cued Tai for his new guitar solo. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly and began to play. Hoots and hollers burst from the crowd, giving the young boy more confidence to play. He bent his knees slightly and arched his back, just like a real rock star would and the crowd was absolutely loving it. Tai's body flowed with the beat of the song and he caught himself just in time to start singing again. The boys repeated the chorus once more, leaving Matt to finish it off alone.

"I never liked you, I never wanted you, I never liked you, I'm not in love with you," the blue-eyed boy stopped and the music stopped. Screams of approval reached the band's ears and a standing ovation was even given. Matt waved at the crowd and grabbed the microphone again.

"Wow, guess you liked it," he said and smirked. More cheers flooded the club. "Let's have a big round of applause for our solo guitarist, Yagami Taichi. He's only 16 folks! Let's show the love…" Matt trailed off and the fans began screaming various phrases at the band. Matt grinned and started to speak again.

"This has been an excellent night; you're such a great audience! Party on people!" he shouted and all five boys ran back stage, the cheers reaching their ears from back there.

"Can you believe that? They loved us!" Daisuke exclaimed, squirming around in all directions.

"That was so amazing!" Ryan added as he stopped Daisuke from crashing into the drink table.

"Your guitar solo turned out excellent, Tai," Arial complimented the younger boy who was guzzling down a cup of cool water.

"Thanks, Ari. I was so afraid I was going to screw up," The brunet admitted with a sheepish smile, throwing the plastic cup into the trashcan.

"They certainly loved it," Matt replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Good." Tai nodded. Daisuke peered around the corner and his eyes lit up.

"**Food!"** he exclaimed quite suddenly. With that word, Tai, Daisuke, and Ryan sped off towards the other side of the stage to claim their mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Matt rolled his eyes at his band mates' childish actions but let it slide. Just for tonight. He reached over for a can of soda and popped the top, slowly sipping it.

"So I take it your finger is better?" Arial asked the blonde, raising a dark eyebrow.

"My finger?" Matt asked in a puzzled tone.

"Yeah. The finger you cut open yesterday that hurt so bad," Arial said. Matt smirked and placed his soda can down, unraveling the band-aid that was on his finger. He freed the index finger and showed it to Arial.

"There's no cut." Arial blinked in disbelief.

"Oh yes there is. It's just very little."

"Ryan said-"

"Ryan is bad at judging depth. I pressed on it to make it bleed more so it appeared worse then it was."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?" Matt refolded his arms. Arial's face twisted into a look of concentration when it suddenly clicked.

"You wanted Tai to play that solo, didn't you? And you knew he wouldn't willingly do it."

"Damn straight. And he did a mighty fine job." Matt nodded and downed the rest of his soda as he walked away, tossing the can into the trashcan behind him.

* * *

Edited again, the songs used in this chapter are Fat Lip by Sum 41, Online Songs by blink-182, and Vacation by Simple Plan. Do not own Tony Hawk's Proskater 4 and that should be it. Later. 


	5. And Then Our Lives Changed

31 reviews. I'm always so satisfied with myself when I get feedback. And so, I give you my own feedback in response to your feedback.

LadyK Na-No-Da: LK! –glomps- You are always the first to review lately. I'm glad I won too…that feels SO weird saying that since the competition was about three months ago. Yea, Mattie's gonna be a somewhat good guy…he might be rude later though so don't get TOO used to it. –steals Matt's candy- I'll be taking that, thank you muchly. Everyone seems to love Arial. Pizzablast was just something REALLY random but I had to weasel Teenage Wolves in there. This isn't soon but…oh hell you know! YOU THOUGH! You need to update Popular!

KraziKrysti: Aw, I won't stop! I'm just glad you like it.

inu400: Glad you love it. I try to make the chapters good. Anyways, here's an update just for you!

LAZ-AZZ: Well, thank you so much. I continued!

Melissa-T: Yes! The first of many gigs for the boys. Matt's just semi-nice for the time being. Of course Dais thought and had a good idea! He's my Dai-Dai. Backwards Jeans…somebody I know has a band and they were trying to think of a name one time and his sister suggested that name. Mud-colored! I think every fic I've read described Tai's eyes as chocolate-brown…maybe reddish-brown. Matt's all about being professional, but nobody listens to him. It's just natural for everybody to like the canon characters of Digimon. But almost everybody likes Arial the best. Hmm…and yes, green and black look the best together.

Yamachi Water Violet: Not Taito! Yamachi! Ha, sorry. Anyways, here's some more for ya.

SnakeMistress: Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed this last chapter. Detail will be added, sorry about that.

Shadow-Seraph: SHADOW! –glomps- I'm so glad that you liked that it was long…and that it was good. So sorry I didn't update much sooner. Thanks…that looks so weird reading reviews saying congrats on my competition when it was SO long ago! YES UPDATE WOMAN! Just kidding, but please update soon, ok? See ya!

Tsuki no Lomelinde: Glad you think it's awesome! Here's my next update!

nEo: I know, I know. I AM THE BEST QUEEN OF PYSCHOS! Ahem, anyway. I remember you're in dance, lol. I've bitten so many people who have said bite me, it's just so fun! Yep, I had to have SOME reason why he had natural blue hair. That book was weird though…anyway, I love that look too! It's just so casual, yet sophisticated. Stop drooling! I love Simple Plan and Blink! I kind of like Sum 41, but not as much as the other two. A few people knew Mattie was lying, he sucks at lying. Thank you, I know I rock. Kidding. Anyways, here's the continuation. Now…I'm still waiting for an update on Kukachi!

crazyamzy: Glad you like it.

PrincessSwifty: Arial says that that's not what he was referring to, but it's ok. Everybody suddenly is all, yay Yamachi-ness is here! But it's really not, lol. You people should know how I work by now! Anyway, Tai, Matt, go take that somewhere else, jeeze. LK should update and I already bugged her about it. This isn't soon, but here's an update!

Sillie: Yeah, but we love Matt as a sneaky bastard don't we? I continued!

ILK: I refuse to type out your entire name. It takes for freakin' ever! Tai was just visiting your planet, calm down. And of course Akira agrees with Arial. He's whipped! -throws lettuce- GO LETTUCE! Obviously you liked it! Kidding. Yes, we know Ryan is your favorite OC. He's kind of watching me and now he's grinning like an idiot. You blew up Rei's car? Good job! I'll be asking him about you two later. Have fun in Faerie Land!

Redvind: Don't apologize hun, I get confused easily. Tai's past will be delved into as the fic rolls on, along with the rest of them. Glad you like the fic though!

Mrs. Passionate: Haha, I know. Tai had a solo! And it probably won't be the last. I continued!

Sen-Tay: YES, I UPDATED! Ah, not that close to Yamachi I'm afraid. Be patient with me! Wow…no that didn't make sense but I get the drift. Thanks! He's not gonna admit it for a long time…first he actually has to fall for Tai-Tai. Don't hurt me. I'm surprised you didn't scream and jump with joy. –big grin- Thank you muchly. Here's an update just for you! Oh man, I still hope you can read and somehow find a way to write and post on Willow (aka: Admiral2: Glad you like the story. And that you love my ideas. That makes me happy. Yea, Mattie did that on purpose…sly bitch –big grin-. I updated as soon as I could!

tomoko: Hey, not much. Thank you so much for dropping by and letting me know what you thought of the fic. Sorry for the wait! How many chapters to finish the fic? Um, at least 15…maybe 20. This one will be long. I'm sorry. I'm like that too though. Wow, I guess you are crazy for the fic, but that's a good thing! I think…anyway. I'm not going to quit, not on this fic anyway! Glad you're enjoying yourself. Um, angst will occur, how much I'm not quite aware…as for the two guys going after Tai or Matt part…maybe, maybe not. Not necessarily going after them, but you'll see. No Taito, just Yamachi! And fluff, fluff isn't the main part of this particular story, but it will occur! Trust me. Wow…that is a long review, thanks.

DawnAurilain: Thank you greatly. And yea…not much else to say but thanks!

Darla-La Mosca Tete: I never said I didn't want to update it. But here's an update, for you to read more!

Mimi-102: This isn't soon, but…yea, you know. I'm glad you like the story. And yes, he is quite adorable, isn't he?

Lil Gold Fishie: Fish! Wow, I didn't even realize that you didn't review chapter 3. Hmm…anyways! That doesn't surprise me that you almost squealed yourself to death. I would too! I get the point, it was awesome. –cheesy grin-. Yeah, somebody else mentioned that the chemical thing was weird, I think it was Neo, and you guys are right, it IS weird. Everybody loves Ari for some reason. Even though HE'S to blame for my long periods between updates. Stupid fool. His good part won't be for a while, but he's satisfied. I love all of the songs I used. And yes, Simple Plan all the way! I loved writing that part about Tai's solo. It was just so clear in my mind, and I have a picture of him playing guitar with Matt too! I can't remember if you've seen it but ask me later and I can show you. I'll clue you in on his past, eventually. Give me time! You know me, I build up lots of plot! But yeah, I agree with you, he does deserve to be having fun on stage. I know, not a soon update, but you still love me right? …right? AND! You should update on SMCC. Hint hint.

Kaizeress: Hey there! I'm so glad you like it that much. You got your account deleted? Bummer! Here's some more of the fic, yay!

puppy-eyes58: Glad you found it interesting. Although, is that a good interesting or a kind of what-the-hell-happened interesting? Anyway, here's the next update!

HIKED: Hi! Yes, I updated. And yes, you can say that this is your all time favorite fic. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This isn't soon, but…oh hell you know! Yamachi won't happen until at LEAST chapter 9…maybe later…no guarantees! Anyway, nope, not telling THAT much. Matt is just so fun to write. Mr. High-and-all-mighty. I updated! Annnnnnnnnnd, why haven't you updated your fic? I really liked it and you just kind of stopped!

Burning Angemon: Yep, but we all love a sneaky Yama, now don't we? Glad you love it!

Lugga: Wow, I guess you do love it. Makes me happy! Here's more of it!

Kelset: Jooooooohn. You're still a bum. And I figured that you've used that trick before, slacker. Kidding. Why no more big reviews for me? WHY, MAN, WHY?

Silver-Wood-GG: Thanks a lot. Here's another chapter for you to read!

Meri-chan: Yes, only four! So sorry. NO! BREATHE I SAY! Anyways, I like that extended version.

Ok that's everybody! Thanks a bunch you guys, it really means a lot. Ok, yes, enough notes, here we go!

* * *

"Wake up!" Daisuke exclaimed as he flung himself onto Tai's bed. Tai groaned and buried his head under one of his pillows. 

"Get up already, damnit!" Daisuke yelled again.

"Go. Away," Tai grunted and smacked Daisuke in the face with his other pillow. Daisuke scowled and grabbed at the first pillow, proceeding to tug at it.

"Okay, first of all, we have school," he reminded his cousin.

"Well eff school," the younger brunet mumbled.

"If you're going to say the word, say it right at least," the older clicked his tongue. Tai sighed in response, causing the burgundy-haired boy to roll his eyes.

"Secondly," he continued, yanking on the pillow some more. "We got the paper for today." Tai's head shot up and he let go of the pillow he had clutched over his head. Daisuke, who wasn't prepared for the sudden alertness of his cousin ended up falling backwards, landing on his rear with the pillow still in his clutches.

"Are you serious! Where is it?" Tai scrambled out of his bed, not paying attention to the fact that the older boy was on the floor under his foot.

"Matt's got it in the living room," Daisuke squeaked and pushed Tai's foot off of his chest.

"Maaaaaaaatttttttt!" Tai bellowed and raced out to the living room. Daisuke shook his head and got to his feet.

"I'm related to the village idiot," he announced as he stepped into the room the others were in and sat on the floor.

"More like the village psycho," Ryan corrected him from his position on the couch.

"Gee, thanks," Tai retorted as he dropped himself down on the couch on the other side Arial. In return, Arial mumbled something incoherent and flopped his head onto Tai's shoulder.

"Yuck, get off!" Tai whined as he pushed Arial's head away from him and wiped up some drool. Arial remained in his half-asleep phase and nuzzled his head into Ryan's lap instead.

"Friendly-much?" Tai raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about him, if you don't want him hitting on you, just firmly say no and tell him to sit." Ryan shifted his body so that Arial's head was now sprawled across his chest instead of his lap.

"**Huh?"** The brunette's eyes widened in shock and his face revealed confusion.

"No need to be surprised. We all got used to it, you will too." Daisuke shrugged.

"No, I mean, what in the hell are you talking about?" Tai folded his arms across his chest.

"Well, once upon a time, there was a young boy with blue hair. One day, he turned 14 and discovered that he was bisexual," Ryan replied airily.

"…are you serious?" The other eyebrow was quirked.

"Got a problem with it?" Arial mumbled without opening his eyes.

"Well no, not really. I mean, it's just…" the younger boy trailed off.

"It's just…" Arial repeated and cracked an eye open.

"I don't know…never mind, it's not important anyway," Tai insisted.

"Why wouldn't it be important? Now I'm rather curious." Arial sat up, fully awake at this point.

"Hello! You two can argue over Arial's sexuality later. We have more important things to take care of!" Matt broke into the tension. Arial sighed and laid his head on Ryan's chest again and Tai focused his gaze on Matt. Once the attention was back on him, Matt cleared his throat and opened the newspaper.

"Okay, as you all are aware of, everybody who plays at '91 gets reviewed in the next day's paper. So, here it is, obviously," Matt announced and turned to the right page. He spread the paper out on the coffee table and sat on the other side.

"This week's hot picks were three local bands from the area. The first group went by the name The Teenage Wolves, and let's just say, they were a tough act to follow. The band played three songs for the evening and really gave the audience a new view on bands. There appears to be two lead singers for the group, along with two lead guitarists. The style of music they played was a pop, rock, and punk mix all blended nicely together.

The star of the evening for this band was the second lead guitarist, Yagami Taichi, who at age 16 can keep up with the big dogs with ease. During their last song of the evening, the young brunette wowed the crowds by playing a solo that could easily rival that of some of the best in the industry.

The sensuous voice of Ishida Yamato wooed many a girl as his tone changed from punk to mellow. The blonde managed to multitask between singing and playing the guitar, both talents he excelled at.

Combined with the almost angelic tone of the blue-wonder Natsaki Arial and Yagami's voice, the band had a unique sound that kept the audience humming all night. Let's not forget the dark bassist Kinomita Jetaryane and the quick-skilled drummer Motamiya Daisuke. These two put the icing on the cake that is the band. Clearly these boys will make it far," Matt finished reading the article to the rest of the group. A silence fell amongst the room as the words sunk in. Ryan was the first to speak.

"Angelic tone?" he snickered. Arial shot his best friend an offended look and reached up, grabbing onto Ryan's left nipple and giving it a sharp twist.

"**Shit!"** Ryan yelped, swatting Arial's hand away from him.

"That's what you get for making fun of me, Dark-Boy." Arial smirked in triumph.

"Bitch."

"Thank you. Anyways, sounds like we really were a good show last night," Arial directed his comment to the whole group.

"Think they'll ask us to come back and play some other time?" Tai questioned, stretching his arms behind his head.

"They won't, because it's an application policy, but some other clubs might," Matt replied thoughtfully.

"We've played at other places before you know…maybe **they** will let us come back," Daisuke reminded Matt.

"Who knows?" Matt shrugged and folded up the newspaper, placing it back on the table. "The point being, we rocked, we got a bit of publicity, and we're all going to be late if we don't get a move on," he finished off, glancing up at the clock.

"We? Late?" Ryan questioned.

"Well not you, since you're a lazy prick," Matt retorted.

"I resent that!"

"You should."

"What?" Arial burst into the discussion.

"Never mind, we all need to get dressed and just go." Daisuke rolled his eyes and stood up, turning on his heel and walking into his bedroom.

"I don't wanna go!" Tai and Arial whined simultaneously. The pair of boys blinked at each other and raised an eyebrow.

"Jinx!" they shouted together. Two frowns formed.

"Double Jinx!" The frowns got deeper.

**"Tripl-"** One hand slapped over each mouth before the phrase could be finished.

"Look, we know you two could continue doing that for who knows how long, but some of us have lives!" Ryan interrupted, keeping a firm hand over Arial's mouth.

"You two are immature brats," Matt added in while trying not to have his hand too close to Tai's mouth. Tai and Arial both nodded and pushed the offending hands away.

"We get it, we'll stop." Arial grinned. Tai shrugged his shoulders and headed towards his own bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Whatever, I'm running late." Matt shook his head and retreated to his room, re-appearing five minutes later with a book bag and a thick textbook.

"You have a class today?" Arial questioned the obvious.

"They changed my schedule. Again," Matt replied flatly, slipping his shoes on his feet.

"When are you gonna be back?" Ryan tilted his head sideways.

"I only have two classes today, so I should be back about 2:00pm." Matt opened the door and shifted the book in his arm.

"Okay, I'll take messages and crap." Ryan waved the blonde off. Matt nodded in reply and stepped out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.

"And you, you have to go in today as well, don't you?" The black-haired boy turned back to Arial.

"Yeah, it sucks. I don't get off until about 4:00pm." Arial pouted and slumped his shoulders.

"Get over it and go get dressed. Slacker," he added in, earning a deeper pout from the bluenette.

"Look who's talking. You don't have a job, you aren't taking any college classes," Arial ranted, listing off things on his fingers.

"Hey, hey, hey, I do plenty around here. I cook damnit! Isn't that enough?" Ryan defended himself immediately.

"Nope."

"Okay, I also clean, do laundry, handle the business calls for the band," the other continued firing excuse after excuse.

"Whatever. Not all of us are spoiled little rich boys like you."

"You could have been too, y'know."

"But I chose not to because I am independent, smart, and capable!" Arial announced proudly.

"Doesn't make you any less of a slacker."

"You two are so stupid sometimes. It's like you're married." Daisuke rolled his eyes and he strolled into the living room, pulling Tai along behind him.

"I think you guys already compared us to a married couple before," Arial said thoughtfully.

"Quit stalling!" Ryan sighed in exasperation and dragged Arial towards his bedroom. "By the way, have a nice day guys!" he shouted over his shoulder to the two cousins in the living room.

"Those two are so weird," Tai commented as the two boys left the apartment and walked towards the lift. They stepped inside and pressed the button to go down to the main floor.

"Yep. Not much we can do about it either. But it all evens out because we have Matt the moody one, me the smooth one, Arial the humorous naïve one, Ryan the dark one, and you the young one!" Daisuke gave Tai a cheeky grin and stepped out of the lift, turning towards the parking lot.

"Yeah…hey what do you mean young one?" Tai raced after the elder.

"Just saying. It's the truth, isn't it?"

"I suppose…" Tai trailed off as the approached Daisuke's car. Daisuke stuck his key in the lock on his side, slid into the driver's seat, and reached over to unlock the door for Tai.

"Why do you guys have three cars?" Tai asked as he climbed into the car.

"Because Matt takes his to college, I take mine to high school, and Ryan uses his to run errands around town."

"Why not just take the subway or the regular bus or a cab or something?"

"Because we enjoy flaunting."

"Oh." Daisuke nodded and put the key in the ignition, backing out of his parking space and merging with traffic. The ride was mostly silence, save for the occasional catty remark from Daisuke about other drivers. Tai looked around the car and wrinkled his nose.

"Ugh." Daisuke looked over at Tai briefly and then back at the road.

"What?" he questioned.

"Ari was right, you **do** have a lot of crap in here that needs to be cleaned out." In result, a crumpled fast-food bag was tossed at his head.

* * *

After Daisuke parked, he mentioned something about meeting a friend at the other entrance of the school and left Tai by himself at the front entrance. Not that it mattered to the brunet since he had his own people to find. He stepped into the building and walked to the staircase where he knew he would find his friends. Sitting on the bottom step were two teenagers, a girl with mid-back-length lavender hair and glasses and a boy with chin-length blackish violet hair and blue-violet eyes. 

"Morning, Tai!" the girl chirped with a cheerful grin.

"Ngh," Tai grunted and sank down onto the steps next to his friends.

"I believe that translates to 'Good Morning, Miyako.'" the boy smirked.

"Shut up, Ken," Tai yawned and leaned his head against Miyako's shoulder.

"Long night?" she questioned.

"Uh-huh. Didn't get to bed until about midnight." Tai nodded.

"Why?" Ken joined the conversation.

"We had a gig last night at this club at like 9pm. Matt made us stay and watch the other two bands so that took us until about 10pm. And then we decided we were hungry so we were going to go out for food but this big group of people basically mobbed us because we were so good playing." Tai gave a cocky grin.

"Ken, do you have a pin to pop his giant ego?" Miyako asked her boyfriend.

"Hey, shut up!" Tai protested. Ken laughed at his friends' antics and shook his head.

"As you were saying, Tai?" he urged on.

"Anyways, so by the time we escaped it was 10:30pm and we walked down to McDonalds and I ordered a teriyaki burger and let's just say those things are so tasty I love them but that's not the point so after we ate and stuff and got home again it was about 11pm and Arial and I were really hyper so we played a few games on the PS2 and at about 11:30pm Matt came out into the living room and yelled at us to go to bed because we were making too much noise so we both went into out separate rooms and I was about to fall asleep when I remembered I had to do my history homework so I got up and walked into our practice room because that's where the computer is so I logged onto the internet and researched and answered the questions and stuff and so by the time I was done and back in my bed it was midnight," Tai explained in one breath. Miyako and Ken blinked at the brunet for a few moments, trying to comprehend what he just babbled about.

"Well…that's nice Tai," Miyako replied slowly, head spinning from Tai's long rant.

"I know huh? But now I'm so tired I'm just gonna fall asleep right here…" Tai trailed off, allowing his eyes to close briefly. Suddenly the bell rang, startling the young boy from his slumber.

"**Damn!"** he exclaimed, shooting straight up into a sitting position.

"The bell dislikes you, Tai," Ken teased his brunet friend.

"Bitttttttttteeeeeee meeeeeeeeeeeee," Tai drawled out and got to his feet, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"That's what I have Miyako for." the other boy shrugged. He was rewarded with a swift punch to the gut by said Miyako.

"I feel so loved." she rolled her eyes and started to walk ahead of the two boys.

"Miya, wait for me!" Ken called out after her, racing to catch up with her.

"You two are sad!" Tai yelled at the retreating forms of his friends. With a sigh, he turned around and started heading the other direction towards his locker.

"This is bad…very bad," he muttered to himself as he fiddled with the lock.

"The locker's beating you, Taichi," a feminine voice spoke from his right side.

"I noticed," Tai growled as he gave his locker a swift bang with his fist. The locker door bounced open and swung closed again.

"**Rawr!" **Tai yelled, pounding on his locker viciously. The girl next to him giggled and shook her head.

"Y'know instead of laughing at me you **could** help," Tai scolded. She stopped laughing and tilted her head to the side.

"I could…but this is really amusing to me." she grinned again.

"Sora, there are days that I hate you." Tai slammed his head against his locker. Once again, the locker popped open.

"Way to use your head," Sora commented.

"Shut up!" Tai rubbed his head and opened the locker door a tad further. He pulled out his Algebra book and binder, slamming the door with all his might.

"Take **that**, evil metal-man of doom!" he announced loudly, sticking his tongue out. Several students turned around to look for the cause of all the commotion and ignored it once they realized 'it was just Yagami Taichi, again.'

"Tai, people are staring. And you're being weird." Sora tucked a piece of her auburn hair behind her ear.

"I'm not sure how many people have told me the same thing. Nor do I care." Tai shrugged and shouldered his bag as the two teens started walking towards class. "Besides, people stare at me all the time, why should today be any different?" he flashed another grin to the eleventh year girl.

"I suppose that's true…but still, don't you ever feel embarrassed about what you do?" Sora answered with a question.

"No not really. I don't care what people think or say about me because as soon as I'm famous, all they'll be saying is, 'Gee, I wish I hadn't treated Taichi like a loser.' Yep, that's what they'll be saying." Tai nodded to himself.

"However, you're the one who goes around proclaiming that you're a loser to begin with."

"Shut up!"

* * *

The two kids walked into their first class of the day which happened to be Algebra. It also happened to be Tai's least favorite subject. After all, it required for him to sit still and stare at a book for a long period of time. Yagami Taichi cannot handle sitting still and staring at a book for a long period of time. However, today was his lucky day. 

"Hey," Sora whispered to him, tapping him on the elbow. Tai jumped in his seat and turned his head slightly to look at the girl. In her hand she held her cell phone and on her face she held a smirk.

"Message for Yagami," she whispered again, setting the phone on his desk. Tai pulled the phone closer and opened the text message.

'_Tai, wanna go to lunch today? I really don't feel like going to my afternoon classes.'_

A grin crossed Tai's face and he suppressed a laugh at his cousin's logic. He looked at Sora for permission to use her phone to text him back. The girl rolled her eyes but nodded in response. Eagerly, Tai held the phone down in his lap to hide it from the teacher and began texting back.

'_Yeah sounds great. Where to?'_

Tai sent the message and waited for the reply. He looked up in attempt to pay attention to the teacher but was failing miserably. Domain and range just weren't as appealing to him as an afternoon out with Daisuke. While they were family, they rarely had time to see each other, let alone spend time together. Now things were different since Tai moved in with the band. There was a certain atmosphere around those boys that made Tai feel more at ease and comfortable. Comfortable was something Tai preferred over everything else. Comfortable and casual.

Sora's phone beeped once, alerting Tai that he had a new message. It also alerted the entire class, drawing more attention to the brunet. The teacher looked at Tai suspiciously, waiting for an explanation.

"Uh, I accidentally hit the play button of my CD player while looking for a new pencil," he offered a feeble excuse. The teacher merely grunted and turned around to begin teaching again.

"Smooth, Yagami. Real smooth," Sora teased the boy.

"Shut up, Takenouchi," Tai grumbled and turned his attention back to Sora's phone to read Daisuke's reply.

'_Awesome. Meet me out front by the car then, I know the perfect place to go.'_

Tai closed the message and passed the phone back to Sora, who was busying herself by taking notes from the black board.

"How does he know that you sit close enough to me so he can text me?" Tai asked the girl with the amber-red eyes.

"I **do** talk to him, you know. He and I have the same drawing class. We talk about you from time to time," she replied, not looking up from her notebook.

"That's reassuring." he rolled his eyes. Since when did his friends and his cousin socialize? That was something that Tai would have never guessed happening: ever. Things were changing more then he thought. There was no doubt in his mind that his entire life was about to change, and it all started the moment he walked into the band's apartment.

"Class dismissed!" Interrupted his bubble of thought. Tai grabbed his bag from the floor and rose to his feet quickly, bolting out of the classroom at top-speed.

"Sora, I'm going to have to-"

"Borrow my notes and/or copy my homework tomorrow," she finished for him.

"Thanks a ton, see ya later!" the mud-eyed boy hollered over his shoulder as he dashed down the hall to his next class. The red-head sighed and massaged her temples.

"I need to learn to say no to him," she grumbled to herself and turned to walk the opposite way.

* * *

Tai entered his next class just as the bell rang, which was a rare occurrence in most cases. But this class wasn't just a normal class for the 16-year-old boy. Biology: the only class Tai could succeed in without putting in a maximal amount of effort. He bounced over to his lab station that he shared with Miyako and Ken and plopped down in his chair. 

"Hello!" h beamed at his two friends. Said friends looked at Tai, gave each other a look, and then settled their gaze back on Tai. Miyako decided to speak first.

"Who are you and what did you do to Taichi?" she asked slowly.

"What's **that** suppose to mean?" Tai raised a fine eyebrow.

"She means you're never this perky in the morning, even during biology," Ken explained.

"Which means that something good must have happened during first lesson?" Miyako concluded, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Hmm. I suppose you could say that." the flamboyant male grinned widely.

"Who did you do and what did you talk to?" Violet-blue eyes blinked at him curiously. The lavender-haired girl and the olive-toned boy rewarded the eyes with looks of confusion and hinted amusement.

"Should that be the other way around?" Miyako questioned rhetorically.

"Possibly. But knowing Tai..." Ken trailed off.

**"I resent that!"** Tai broke into the conversation.

"Do you even know what you're resenting?" Ken retorted.

"...well no, not exactly. It **sounds** like you're implying that I am a whore."

"Where did you get that idea?"

"I don't know, you asked who I did. That usually implies who did you have sex with which implies that you have sex a lot which in terms means that you are a prostitute and if you use street-slang it's whore!" The last line was shouted at the top of his lungs. The other 28 students turned around in their seats to stare at the boy who was standing in front of Ken Ichijouji's desk, yelling in his face. The biology teacher gave off a half-smile and chuckled.

"Something you would like to elaborate on, Yagami?" she asked him as she folded her arms over her chest.

"No, not exactly." Tai let go of the sides of Ken's desk to face the teacher. The teacher continued to look at the boy who was beginning to feel more sheepish as time drew on.

"I think I'll just sit down now..." the brunet trailed off.

"Yes, that would be wise of you," the teacher replied with another smile. Tai nodded and sat in his chair, facing the front of the room where the instructor stood.

"I have two words to say to you today," the older woman began as she strolled across the room. The three friends at station four exchanged glances and returned their eyes to the teacher.

"Movie day." Were the words that left her lips.

"Right on!" Tai cheered as he dropped his textbook on the ground next to him.

"What's the movie?" Miyako questioned.

"It's called Gattaca. I thought it would be good to watch while we learn about DNA," the green-eyed woman replied as she stopped in front of the TV, popping a video cassette into the VCR.

"Satoshi can you please hit the lights?" she asked the boy who sat closest to the door. The young boy rose from his seat and flipped the light switch, plunging the classroom into darkness, save for the light from the TV screen. The teacher pressed play and returned to her own seat to watch the movie and all was quiet. Mostly.

"So what got you so happy?" Miyako whispered.

"Dais and I are going to lunch. He also mentioned he didn't feel like going to his afternoon classes, which I assume means we're going to ditch," Tai whispered back.

"Tai, you do realize you can't afford to ditch any more classes," Ken joined in the conversation.

"Why?"

"Because you're failing them, bonehead." Miyako rolled her eyes.

"Exactly. So if I'm failing them, there's really no sense in going to begin with." Tai shrugged and pulled his arms inside his sweatshirt, lifting the garment off above his head.

"Hey, now that shirt can actually be true!" Ken poked Tai in the chest.

"Knock it off!" Tai protested and shoved Ken away from him. The boy was wearing a black t-shirt with white letters that read 'No Job, No Money, No Car. But I'm In A Band' outlined in red and a small red and white hand in a rock-on formation under the last line. Miyako nodded in agreement and grinned.

"He does a have a point," she concluded.

"So? That doesn't mean that you can poke me for crying out loud!" Tai all but shouted.

"Yagami, am I going to have to send you outside?" the teacher appeared at the side of his desk.

"Uh…maybe?" Tai gave her a sheepish grin. The teacher rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Outside, Yagami. And I better not see you at school for the rest of the day." she winked and nodded towards the door.

"Wha-"

"I've been standing here the entire time. He's waiting for you outside," she explained. Tai stared at her in awe before it finally sank in. A grin split his face and he quickly shoved his books into his bag.

"Have I ever mentioned that you are the best teacher here?" Tai questioned.

"A few times."

"Cool, just checking. You still rock." Tai sprang up from his chair. "See ya later!" He waved and raced towards the door. He grabbed a hold of the handle and flung the door open, crashing right into Daisuke and knocking him to the floor.

"Oh gosh! Dai, are you okay?" Tai panicked and knelt down next to his cousin. Daisuke opened his eyes and glared at Tai momentarily.

"You ever do that again, I will kill you with something from my car," The mahogany-haired boy warned the younger.

"Kay. So why are we leaving early?"

"Because I have no class this period and the restaurant I want to go to gets busy right during our lunch time. So we're going to jump the gun."

"It's only 11am though," Tai protested as the two boys headed out to the parking lot.

"So? It's still about lunch time," Daisuke argued as they walked up to his car. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the car doors, throwing his book bag into the back seat. Tai followed his example and dropped himself into the passenger seat, waiting for Daisuke to start the car. Daisuke turned the key in the ignition and put the car in reverse, driving out of the parking space and onto the open road.

"So what's so special about this place?" Tai asked as he leaned back in the seat.

"Well, you'll see for yourself. And besides, it's got excellent food so you can't really complain," Daisuke retorted as he drove down the busy street. The rest of the ride was in silence as they made a few turns and pulled up in front of a restaurant.

"And here we are!" Daisuke announced proudly and stepped out of his car. Tai followed the older boy and looked up to read the sign on top of the small building.

"Bouken Sutairu?" Tai spoke in question.

"Yep, it's totally awesome. Come on!" Daisuke exclaimed and grabbed Tai's hand, dragging the bewildered boy into the restaurant. It was slightly dark on the inside with disco lights and reading lamps being the only source of light. The windows had the blinds pulled down so no one could see in and no light could come in. Loud rock music blared and bounced off every wall in the building and posters and memorials of bands hung on every available space. Tables were set up in little groups, some meant for two people and others meant for parties of at least twenty, all set with silverware, napkins, and water pitchers.

"Wow..." Was all that managed to escape Tai's mouth.

"Yeah, isn't it great? We come down here at least once a week," Daisuke replied as he headed towards the host's podium.

"Why? That great?"

"That, and well, you'll see." Daisuke beamed and hit the miniature gong that was on top of the stand. The gong echoed in the front room and from behind the podium a young male rose to his full height.

"Welcome to Bouken Sutairu, how many?" he asked with a yawn.

"Wonderful to see you too, Blue." Daisuke poked the boy on the top of the head. Said boy looked up slowly and his blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey there! Shouldn't you guys be in class?" Arial raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Maybe, but this just seemed like a better idea. And besides, we get to beat the rush, and on top of that, Tai's never been here before to begin with," Daisuke gave a lengthy explanation. Arial craned his neck to look behind Daisuke and smiled when he spotted the other boy.

"Didn't even see ya back there, Tai. Dais talk you into this?"

"For the most part." Tai nodded in agreement.

"Well, either way, you're in for a treat." Arial winked at the brunet and grabbed a few menus.

"Okay, Motomiya, party of three, right this way!" Arial turned on his heel and led the cousins to a back room.

"Shouldn't you be working and not dining?" Daisuke nodded towards the podium they had left behind.

"Nah, I'm on my break." Arial waved a hand in the air casually.

"Since when?"

"Since just now." The host dropped the menus on a purple and black table and stood back with his hands in his pockets.

"But I suppose if I **don't** do my job, I shall be fired. So what would you guys like to drink?" Arial tilted his head to the side.

"Can I get a margarita?"

"No, Daisuke. Not a **real** one at any rate."

"I'm waiting for one of these days that you'll slip up and let me have one anyway. But until that day comes, I'll take a Coke." Daisuke rolled his eyes and leaned back into the booth. Arial nodded and turned to Tai.

"And what about you, brown-eyes?" Tai looked at the drink menu and bit his lower lip in concentration.

"Um...Sprite sounds good I guess," he replied hesitantly.

"Oh come on, at least **try** to sound more sure of yourself." Arial crouched down next to the table so that he was eyelevel with Tai. "Or are you just shy?" he said coyly, leaning his face closer to Tai's. Tai blinked rapidly as he tried to put some more distance between himself and Arial.

"Um...well, I don't know?" Tai squeaked.

"Hmm...maybe we should figure out a way to make you bolder." The blue-eyed demon smirked.

"And what do you suggest?" Tai swallowed to try and rid his throat of the lump that had been formed.

"Well, I do have one idea..." Arial trailed off. Slowly, he leaned in further and gently pressed his lips to Tai's. He pulled away from the brunet and looked at him through half-lidded eyes. "Now, did it work?" he blinked once. Tai on the other hand was blinking at the rapid pace again, trying to comprehend what had just happened and why he suddenly...

_'Didn't mind?'_ He shook his head furiously to rid himself of any thoughts he was having and looked Arial in the eye.

"Just go get me my damn Sprite okay?" he demanded roughly.

"Ooh, so it did work. One Sprite, one Coke, and one Diet Coke coming up!" The blue-haired boy winked and bounced away, heading for the kitchen. He reappeared a few moments later holding a tray with three glasses of soda on it. He dropped the tray on the table and placed the drinks in their respected places. Tai studied the boy in front of him in pure confusion. This most certainly was not the same boy that Tai had been living with for the last week. This boy was different. The boy he had been living with wore baggy jeans with holes in the knees and rear area and sarcastic-yet-amusing t-shirts. But this boy who stood before him was wearing a pair of black slacks and a long-sleeved black dress shirt left unbuttoned. Under that shirt he wore a black t-shirt that was printed to look like a tuxedo. In fact…

"Dude, is that suppose to be like Jack Skellington's tux?" Tai exclaimed, poking the bluenette in the stomach. Arial's face split into another grin and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep! I love it so much!" he chirped, smoothing out the spot that became crinkled when Tai poked him.

"Jack Skellington?" Daisuke cut into the conversation, obviously quite unaware of what his two friends were talking about.

"…hello, Nightmare Before Christmas!" both boys exclaimed, rolling their eyes simultaneously. Daisuke blinked at the reaction and quietly hid his face inside the menu once more, muttering something about immature clones.

"I **love** that movie. It's like my favorite," Tai babbled on, examining Arial's shirt closer.

"Ditto to that. Jack is awesome. I mean, check out my tie!" Arial pointed to his neck. The tie itself was undone so that each end was hanging on either side of him neck. It was a black tie with a red outline that had a picture of the pumpkin graveyard and Jack standing on Moonlight Hill printed on it. The moon shone behind Jack as he stood at the edge of Moonlight Hill, right before it curved down. The pumpkins were a bright orange and the grounds were a purplish-black, just like the table they were sitting at. The picture part of the tie hung on the right side and the smaller, plain black part was on the left with Arial's nametag pinned to it.

"That is so cool. Where'd you get that?" Tai asked in awe, feeling the tie between his fingers.

"I can't really remember," Arial replied in a thoughtful tone. His face contorted into a look of concentration before he shook his head and took out a pad of paper, reaching for the pencil behind his ear.

"Soooooo, what's for lunch?" he asked, flipping the notepad to a clean sheet of paper. Tai reached over and opened a menu, searching its contents for something that he recognized.

"Dai, why don't you order first?" Tai suggested as more question marks formed over his head.

"Okay…whatever you say. Ari, put me down for a Yukkan Spice." Daisuke told his friend and handed him the menu.

"You're nuts." Arial's eyes widened and he shook his head as he wrote down the order. "Do you want teriyaki sauce or barbeque sauce?" he added on to his sentence.

"Teriyaki."

"Okay then." Arial wrote down the order and looked at Tai once more. The boy was still staring at the menu in silence, not quite sure what to order.

"Daisuke, what'd you get?" he asked his cousin.

"It's a dish with chicken, hamburger, carrots, cabbage, and noodles blended with lots of spices. It's really good." Daisuke nodded in assurance. Tai looked over to Arial to be certain and saw that the other boy was shaking his head and mouthing the word 'no'.

"Sorry Dai, I think we're going to have to trust somebody besides you..." Arial smirked and Daisuke rolled his eyes.

"Oh, and I suppose you'll trust the demon-child." Daisuke frowned slightly.

"Demon-child? He doesn't look like a demon-child."

"Yeah, I don't look like a demon-child. So there!" Arial stuck his tongue out at the cinnamon-eyed boy.

"No but you are! **You are I say!**" Daisuke pounded his fist on the table and pointed one finger at Arial.

"...well then. Somebody just want to help me pick something?" Tai interrupted. Arial nodded, glared at Daisuke once more, and headed over to Tai's side of the table, positioning himself in his lap. Arial took the menu from Tai's grasp and started looking over it.

"Hmm...this is pretty good." he pointed at an item named Housaku Shuukaku.

"What is it?"

"It's kind of like a fruit salad with different sweeteners mixed into it. Strawberries, cantaloupe, oranges, honeydew, apples, bananas, and coconut shavings," Arial explained to the younger.

"Um…allergic to coconut," Tai said doubtfully.

"Well, I can have the chefs make it without," Arial assured him.

"Hmm…sure then, sounds great." Tai gave Arial a smile grin and handed him the menu. Arial got out of Tai's lap and collected the menus, tucking the pencil back behind his ear.

"I'll be right back," he called over his shoulder as he jogged back to the kitchen. Tai stared at the other's retreating form and slowly drew his eyes away.

"I can't believe he did that," Daisuke muttered to himself. Tai's ears perked up and he raised his eyes to meet Daisuke's.

"What?"

"He kissed you. And then he sits in your lap. I don't think he even realizes that you're straight! And he hasn't even known you for that long!" Daisuke ranted on as Tai listened with one ear, not really caring much about what Daisuke had to say.

'_He should trust me to make my own decisions. I should be able to make my own assumptions about Arial. And besides…maybe I'm not so straight after all.'_ Tai thought idly as he played with the straw in his soda. Soon, Arial came back with two plates, one with a tangy smell and the other with a sweet smell. The tangy plate was sizzling and a drop of oil would bounce off every now and again. Arial dropped the plates before the correct boy and sat in Tai's lap again.

"Dig in." he grinned and leaned his head against Tai's shoulder. Daisuke immediately drove his fork into his meal, shoveling large amounts at a time into his mouth. Tai on the other hand wasn't as eager. Sure it smelled and looked great, but who was he to trust someone else's judgment?

"Something wrong?" Arial blinked curiously at the mud-eyed boy.

"No, just thinking," Tai replied as he stabbed a strawberry with his fork. He lifted the berry to his mouth and popped it in, chewing on it thoughtfully. Flavor burst into his mouth and his eyes lit up in delight. He swallowed the strawberry and started to copy Daisuke's actions.

"Tastes good, no?" Arial prodded the young boy.

"Excellent." Was the word said around a mouth of food. Arial nodded proudly and stole a piece of apple from Tai's dish. Suddenly his cell phone rang, causing all three of the boys to jump. Arial reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver phone, flipping it open to answer the call.

"Natsaki," he spoke. Silence fell amongst the group as Arial listened intently to whoever was on the other end of the line. He nodded once and began to speak once more. "Okay, I'll see what we can do. Yeah, I've got Daisuke and Tai with me right here. Can Matt get out of class? I see. Okay we're on the way. Convention center right? Okay, meet you out front," Arial finished his call and snapped the phone shut, lifting himself off of Tai's lap.

"That was Ryan. He has some interesting news for us," he announced to the other two boys.

"What is it?" Tai asked as he continued eating his fruit salad.

"Well, apparently, somebody saw us play at Fahrenheit 91 last night."

"Well duh, a lot of people saw us play," Daisuke snorted and reached for his Coke.

"No, I mean somebody big. Anyway, so this person, whoever, asked the people who own Fahrenheit for a way to reach us. They were given our home phone number and they called Ryan. They want to have a meeting with us," Arial retold the message Ryan gave him. Tai had no idea what they were talking about, but at those words, Daisuke's eyes widened and his mouth hung open.

"It's finally happening?" he spoke in a hushed tone. Arial nodded solemnly and unclipped his name tag from his shirt.

"It's happening. And we need to be at the convention center in 15 minutes," Arial informed the boys.

"Dude, can't we finish eating first?" Tai protested.

"No, just take the plates with you. I'll drive, you two can eat," Arial replied and dashed over to a girl with shoulder-length auburn hair and green eyes.

"Autumn, I have to leave. Meeting in 15 minutes that I **can not** miss," he explained in a rushed voice.

"Ri-ight. I believe ya. Just like that last meeting you 'could not miss' that turned out to be you going to the mall for video games." The girl rolled her eyes and continued clearing off the pink and orange table in front of her.

"Auttie, I'm serious. It's for the band!" Arial whined. Autumn sighed and looked at Arial who was sporting a good pair of puppy-eyes.

"Fine, whatever. I'll cover for you. Again," she replied in what was suppose to be a grumpy tone but came out more as a teasing voice. Arial squeaked slightly and threw his arms around her neck.

"Thank you thank you thank you! Gotta run, see ya later!" he spoke in one breath as he ran back to the other boys and proceeded to drag them out of the restaurant, leaving behind a bewildered Autumn. She closed her eyes briefly and let out a deep breath.

"I need to learn how to resist the eyes," she groaned and continued to mop the table.

* * *

The boys piled into Daisuke's car with Arial in the driver's seat and the two cousins in the back. 

"Okay, seriously, we're running late so if you see a cop chasing us, let me know so I can go faster," Arial explained as he pulled out and merged with traffic. He slammed his foot on the gas pedal and passed the car in front of them, jumping from a speed of 20 m/p/h to 60 m/p/h.

"**Ari! You're going to kill us before we get to the center!**" Daisuke yelped as he spilt part of his lunch on the floor of his car.

"Trust me," Arial said nonchalantly as he pulled into the other lane, cutting off a large bus that in turn started to honk.

"Ari, chill, we have five minutes!" Tai informed the driver.

"So? This is just kind of amusing," Arial chuckled and slammed on the brakes as the approached a red stoplight. The boys in the backseat lunged forward and flopped back against the seats. Arial tapped the wheel agitatedly and checked the clock for time.

"We only have three minutes left," he growled, glaring at the light above him. **"Change you damn light!"** he bellowed. As if on command, the light changed to green and traffic began to move again. Once more, the gas pedal was pressed and the car sped up. As Daisuke watched the speedometer rise with every building they passed, a thought occurred to him.

"Arial…"

"What?" Arial replied as he pulled into another lane, swerving to avoid hitting a limo.

"You don't have a license!"

"So?"

"You can't be driving!"

"Yeah I can, watch me."

"**Ari, look out for that street light!" **

* * *

"You hit a street lamp." Ryan folded his arms over his chest. "You're telling me that you're late because you hit a **street lamp**?" he shouted in their faces. 

"I didn't hit a street lamp. **Arial** hit a street lamp," Daisuke argued back.

"Well, you know Arial's stupid and can't drive!"

"I am not stupid!" Arial cut in.

"Well either way you shouldn't be driving. Why did you let him drive?" Ryan continued to yell.

"Because we wanted to finish our lunches," Tai replied. Ryan blinked momentarily and covered his eyes with his hand.

"God help us…look, Matt's already inside and we should be too," he sighed and uncovered his face.

"What about my car?" Daisuke whimpered, pointing at his smashed car that was a few blocks down the road.

"It's a piece of crap and I hope you have everything important out of it," Ryan retorted and opened the door to the convention center.

"My car is not a piece of crap!"

"Just shut up, Dai." Tai grabbed the other boy's wrist and pulled him into the center, following Ryan and Arial who were standing by the elevator. Ryan pushed the up button and the four boys stepped inside the moving box.

"Which floor?" Tai stared at all of the buttons in front of him.

"Ninth," Ryan said curtly, still sending little glares at Daisuke and Arial. Tai sighed and hit the '9' button, bringing the lift to life. The ride up was silent aside from the little 'ding' that occurred as the lift passed each floor. Finally a louder ding sounded off and the elevator doors opened widely. Standing on the other side was a very pissed-off blonde.

"You can explain this to me later," he growled and stalked back into the meeting room. The four other boys exchanged dazed looks and shrugged, following their leader into the conference room. Tai shut the door behind him and they turned to look at a man sitting at the head of the table. He wore his blonde hair down, revealing that it came to about his shoulders. His steel-gray eyes peered out at them over the dark sunglasses and he clicked a pen in his right hand.

"I presume that this is the rest of your band, Ishida-san?" the other blonde man raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Yes. They are idiots, but they play music well." Matt nodded.

"We are not idiots!" Tai hissed. Daisuke slapped a hand over his mouth and gave Matt a cheesy grin. The blonde man raised the other eyebrow and removed his sunglasses, motioning for the boys to sit. Everyone sat at the table and waited for the meeting to begin. The older blonde cleared his throat and drank a bit of water.

"You can call me S."

"Hello, S!" Arial chirped.

"Shush!" Ryan whispered and hit his best friend in the arm. S rolled his eyes and nodded.

"As you may know, I saw you play at Fahrenheit 91 last night." S pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace around the room.

"I was pleasantly surprised by your technique and style, not to mention your audience appeal. Naturally, I wanted to learn more about you. So I began asking around. Was told that you were good. Took a sample of your music to my boss, decided we liked ya," S gave them the low-down. He slammed his fist on the table, causing all five to jump and turn their attention to him. "We would like to cut you a record deal with Trinket Sounds Records," he dropped the final bomb. Five pairs of eyes widened and four jaws dropped. "I suggest you don't hesitate, Wolves. There are other buckets full of talent out there just waiting to be given an opportunity like this." S walked around the table again.

Silence fell among the room, all eyes darting back and forward. Matt's eyes caught Tai's. Somewhere in his mind, the brunette knew that he was being asked what they should do. He nodded briefly and cast his eyes downward. Matt nodded sharply and put up a hand to stop S.

"Yes," he spoke. S smirked and laid a piece of paper on the table in front of Matt.

"All you have to do is sign that and I can guarantee that you'll be stars." S nodded once. Matt glanced at his band and seized the pen from S's hand, not hesitating for a moment as he scrawled his signature onto the sheet. The contract was passed around to the other four members and handed back to S. S's eyes scanned over the contract briefly and a wry smile crossed his face as he shoved the paper into his coat. He stuck out a hand and slid his sunglasses back on.

"Welcome to the real world boys. It's your time to shine."

* * *

Daisuke's dish translates to Courageous Spice and Tai's is Fruitful Harvest. Let's see, what else? Yes, I'm sure most of you are going to be like, 'what the hell!' after you read the Tai and Arial part. Hey, I never guaranteed that it'd be STRICTLY Yamachi. But rest assure, it will turn to Yamachi. Um, I can't think of anything else. Oh, don't own Gattaca. Later. 


	6. A Simple Melody

Wow, chapter 6, finally! I really need to learn to update faster, but this fic could have many many chapters. So we'll see! Moving on to thank yous!

ILK: K! Wow, that long? Cool…anyway. You are easily amused my friend, very easily amused. Yes, you are a doofus, as I am a loser. Ry is the dark-guy. YOU HAVE THE DARK-GUY! Hee. Are you sure you're not drunken high? That's weird…

Kelset: No, not happy. But whatever. Wow then…I didn't understand any of that last part. All I know is that you no longer have a computer. Just tell Vince to buy a new one, since he has a job anyway! I have no idea.

CartoonHeroes: Well, thank you very much! I updated as quick as I could, enjoy!

DawnAurilain: Yep, nice long chapter. Glad you liked it.

Sillie: Thanks! I continued!

minnermon: On the way to Stardom huh? Guess you could say that. A lot of people thought the Tarial part was cute. Which is good, since I plan on adding more before the Yamachi. I continued!

crazyamzy: Uh, thanks then. I'm glad I could help change that perspective. And thanks again for the compliments! Here's an update on this fic!

Sen-Tay: Yea, I'll write out your response in the document I post in your LJ.

Melissa-T: I'm glad you read it either way. I love NBC too! It's so awesome! Some people were like 'oh my god!', but mostly everybody was like, 'oh how cute!' Everybody loves Arial. And I can't figure out why. Now he's pouting at me and flipping me off. Oh well. I can imagine you as a Mangaka (your art is beautiful!) and you'd name him Arial? Aw, coolness! I know, too little of Yama, but he will be around in this chapter more times then you can count!

Shadow-Seraph: Ha, I could tell! Wow, that's an interesting kind of love. Yes, savor the Tarial parts! Thanks. Ciao!

Mimi-102: Thanks so much. Here's an update!

Tsuki no Lomelinde: Yay, glad you liked it! Don't wait too long, since the next one is right here! And S will prove to be…only slightly sinister.

Yakari Taito: Hee, thanks a bunch! I loved writing the Tarial part. Glad you thought it was cute, since there will be more of them in coming chapters before the Yamachi.

LadyK Na-No-Da: LK! I return the glomp-tackle-hug! Ah, no, you're not the first this time, but that's ok! Yeah, S is kind of sinister…he's going to have fun torturing those poor boys. This isn't soon but…oh hell you know! And why haven't YOU updated? HMM? Kidding.

HIKED: Yay, I updated! Yes, I kind of guessed, thanks for telling me though! Wait no more, here's an update. Nah, that's not cheesy and I couldn't sue you if I tried! YES! Worship Tai with me! Yama's cool too but I like Tai best. Ah yes…Taito love.

Prince Izzy1: Yep, long is what I go for. Glad you liked it, here's the next chapter.

Redvind: Ha, I never thought about that actually…guess they did! And the more I think about it, I love writing in the Tarial parts.

OrangeOctopus: Thanks a lot. But actually, brunette just means dark hair, so it could be either black or brown. Although, I've never heard anyone use brunette to describe someone with black hair. I even looked it up in a dictionary just to make sure I was making sense! Thanks for letting me know though, although I will most likely call him a brunette still, since I was raised to call people with brown hair brunettes.

Meri-chan: This is why I have people ALWAYS read my author's notes. Yeah, the Tarial was a slight shock if you weren't prepared for it, but think of it as opening the doors to Yamachi! Tai has to discover his un-heterosexuality somehow right? Anyways, don't worry, all of my chapters are super-long. I like that line too, it amuses me. Laughing? Laughing good! Yay! Here's an update! But unfortunately, I can't carry out the request for Ari/Ryan. For one thing, Ryan's straight. And b.) Ryan's got a girlfriend and Ari has a boyfriend. Oh well!

Dark Willow (aka: Admiral2: Aw, thanks! Here's some more for you to read!

Kimra Dattei: Oh don't worry about it, at least you remembered to review at all! Glad you loved the chapter. I think I made a good choice adding in Tarial since everybody seemed to be cool with it, but we all know that we must get to the Yamachi! I'm not sure how long it'll be until I get there, since in AUs I have to have them interacting quite a lot before I can even get them thinking on terms of love…oh well. All right, I'll be waiting for your review then!

Plaidnsuspendahs: You know what's funny about you asking that? I have no idea what's going to happen! I have a very very vague idea, and that's about all. So we'll see where this goes! Thanks a lot, here's an update!

nEo: Your name is so funny to type N-chan, seriously. Ah, where have you been? I MISS YOU! You're never on MSN anymore! Oh wait, this is to reply to your review, not babble. Kay, yeah NBC HAS become uber-popular, but that's totally ok. You always love my chapters though! You need to update before I fly to Canada to stalk Simple Plan and hunt you down to kick your butt on the way! Please start working? Please?

The Kaizeress: Thanks a lot. Here's an update!

Aero-Grrl: Aero! Yay, you read it! This makes me happy! Glad you like it too, this also pleases me. I'm updating! Yay!

Maira: Well now, that's perfectly fine not being able to review, because this definitely makes up for it! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and yes, the slash will come around soon. I kept writing, so I hope you keep reviewing!

Octavo: Yes, now you understand. I love Ari to death! He's my little helper. Anywho, S isn't his real name, but it's what he'll go by for now. And I realize the few little errors. I'll probably take one of these weekends and go through editing…I did with Black just recently. Anyway, I admit, Black is cooler then this fic but I love them both the very same.

All righty, that's about everybody then! 27. I feel calm and satisfied. So now, without further procrastinating, chapter 6!

* * *

"From this day forward, you are a drop-out," the blonde boy insisted, folding his arms over his chest. 

"No way! He can't drop out, he's only 16!" Daisuke protested. Tai sat on the couch that separated the two older boys, watching the verbal brawl play out.

"He has to drop out! We need to focus on this band!" Matt shouted back.

"Well, you're not making me drop out."

"That's because you're close to graduating."

"And he's close to finishing his tenth year. What's the difference?"

"If he continued now and finished tenth year, he'd have to go back for eleventh and twelfth year. We can't afford that now that we have a chance to go somewhere with this band."

"Do I **not** get a say in this?" the younger brunet broke in suddenly.

"No."

"Yes." Cinnamon clashed with blue once more.

"Why does he get a say in if he wants to drop out or not?" Daisuke asked.

"Because it's his choice if he wants to play or work. End of story." Matt shifted his gaze to the other boy, raising a fine blonde eyebrow. "So which is it, Yagami? Work? Or play?" The words spilled from his lips smoothly.

"Play," Tai said without hesitation. A smirk made it's presence on Matt's lips and he turned his eyes back to Daisuke.

"See? Problem solved. Tai's out of school." he nodded once to confirm it with his mind.

"Matt, it's May. He only has to go until June!"

"Isn't that your sister's name?"

"How is Jun anyway?"

"Argh, shut up and stop changing the subject!" Daisuke yelled in frustration. Tai burst into giggles and Matt rolled his eyes.

"Look, it's only a month," Matt tried once more to reason with the mahogany-haired boy.

"Besides, it's not like I'm passing any of my classes anyway, so it's not going to hurt me." Tai shrugged, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"Why aren't you passing?"

"You're not my parents, so blow it!"

"That's the dumbest card you could have played, seriously." Daisuke raised an eyebrow at his cousin.

"Well still, you're not my father, so stop trying to act like you are. I don't need you digging where you don't belong," Tai said hotly, staring at Daisuke with glared eyes. Daisuke held up his hands in mock-defense and grinned slightly.

"Whoa there, chill. No need to go all mental on me," he said.

"Whatever. Thank you for absolutely killing my mood!" Tai shouted in exasperation and threw his arms into the air, launching himself off of the couch and storming into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Daisuke blinked in surprise while Matt smirked at him, leaving him to be confused.

"What exactly did I do to him?" the brown-eyed boy asked.

"Absolutely nothing Daisuke. The kid's just too femme for his own good." Matt shrugged and sashayed into the kitchen, taking a bottle of medication out of the cabinet and filling up a glass of water.

"Define femme," Daisuke said more then asked as he watched Matt down two pills.

"He acts like a chick. He's over-sensitive, moody, whiny, clingy-"

"Hey now, that sounds more like Ari then Tai."

"Well Ari's bi and extremely dependent. What's Tai's excuse?"

"Why do you keep using Ari's sexuality against him? Seriously," Daisuke changed the subject suddenly, catching the blonde boy off-guard.

"No reason," he replied smoothly and walked out of the kitchen, standing on the other side of the bar.

"…are you a homophobe?" Daisuke asked slowly as his eyes examined Matt's expression. Matt blinked in surprise and rolled his eyes as he made his way towards his own bedroom.

"Oh yeah, Dais. You know me, **biggest** homophobe **ever**!" he made a show of emphasizing the point and opened the door. Daisuke opened his mouth to comment but Matt cut him off shortly.

"That was sarcasm, by the way," he informed the drummer and walked into the dark room, pulling the door shut behind him. It was Daisuke's turn to blink in surprise and he shook his head, flopping his body back on the couch.

"Somehow I always make everybody leave," he said thoughtfully and turned on the TV, flipping the channel to some cartoon. Somewhere behind him he heard the door of somebody bedroom creak open, shut, and then another door open and shut. He turned his head slightly to his right and saw nothing peculiar. Shrugging to himself, he returned his attention to the show on the screen before him. He hadn't been relaxing for very long after that when there was a sudden thunderous knock on the front door.

"Door!" he hollered over his shoulder, assuming someone else would answer it. The only thing that followed was silence. "Jeeze, do I have to do everything? Seriously," he grumbled a complaint as he hoisted himself off of the couch, shuffling his slipper-clad feet to the door. Yawning slightly, he unlocked the door and swung it open, only to be greeted by a shiny silver dagger pointed at his nose.

"Eep," he squeaked slightly and looked beyond the sharp object, spotting their new manager S holding said object in his hand.

"Where are the rest of the clowns?" he asked the 18-year-old.

"Inside," Daisuke answered in the same squeaky voice, being careful not to move his nose.

"Right." S dropped the dagger from Daisuke's face and made his way into the apartment, leaving the young male to follow him, breathing out a sigh of relief. S stopped and stood by the TV and folded up the dagger, tucking it away into his pocket.

"Now, go get them," S commanded and folded his arms over his chest. Daisuke nodded and took off running without hesitation. He first poked his head into Matt's room.

"Hey, crazy manager dude is here and wants to talk to us!" he panted before fleeing across the apartment to Arial and Ryan's room. Matt arched an elegant eyebrow and walked out of his room, sitting in one of the chairs in front of S.

Daisuke knocked on the bedroom door and it soon flew out at him, revealing a rather ticked-off Ryan.

"What?" the black-haired boy growled with his green eyes glaring at him sharply.

"Look, S is here and he wants to talk to us for a bit, so you and Ari need to get out here," Daisuke explained as calmly as he could. Ryan snorted and shrugged.

"Well, go find Arial yourself because he's not in here," Ryan spoke in an airy tone and brushed back the brown-eyed boy. Daisuke gave the boy a puzzled look that went unnoticed as Ryan dropped his body on the couch in an ungraceful manner.

"This is just turning out to be a **wonderful** day!" Daisuke muttered to himself as he reached Tai's room. Without really giving it a second thought he opened the door and closed his eyes briefly from his building frustration.

"Look, I don't care what type of excuse you have today but you need to get ou-**ah!**" He had chosen that moment to open his eyes. In return, he was greeted with the sight of his cousin and Arial in the midst of a zealous kiss. It was obvious to the on-looker that Arial was the leading party, gently massaging the back of the smaller boy's neck as Tai leaned into the touch. Daisuke suddenly snapped out of his trance and blinked twice, unsure of what he was seeing.

"What is going on?" he exclaimed quite loudly. The two boys on the bed lazily glanced in Daisuke's general direction and Tai's eyes went wide, launching himself as far from Arial as he could without falling off the actual bed. Arial kept his calm exterior and looked at Daisuke with lust-laced eyes.

"Can we help you?" his voice had a slight pant to it as he rolled over slightly, revealing that the top four buttons of his shirt were undone. Daisuke shook his head in disgust at his friend and averted his gaze to Tai, who was sporting a nice pink tinge on his cheeks. _'If he wasn't so tan, I'm sure it would be more red then pink.' _Daisuke gave off a half-hearted grin.

"S is here to talk to us about something important, so come on out into the living room," he relayed the message and began to turn towards the door. About half-way out, he turned around and gave both his cousin and the blue-haired boy a look of disbelief. "And yes, we **will** be discussing this issue later," he added as an afterthought and stepped out of the room, leaving the two boys to themselves once more. Tai remained silent as Arial began to re-button his shirt, watching the younger brunet closely.

"I don't Dais is very happy…" Said brunet trailed off sadly, looking at the far wall in front of him. Arial shrugged and pulled Tai closer to him, lacing his fingers with his own.

"Well, are you happy?" he asked quietly as he held Tai in his lap.

"I guess. I don't really know what I am. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm confused, I'm delirious, I'm dizzy and still caught-up in the moment. But I suppose, yes, I am happy. I'm happy that if I had to experience all of this, it was with someone like you…" Tai added as an afterthought. Arial nodded in approval and helped his new boyfriend to his feet and they both walked out into the living room. Arial sat on the couch next to Ryan and Tai settled in his lap, shifting uneasily under Daisuke's watchful gaze. S cleared his throat and captured their attention.

"Now that you're all done fooling around, you can listen to me. This is a serious business, boys, and you have to be prepared to sacrifice yourselves for everything. We'll be bringing you down to the studio tomorrow to start working on your newest CD but we need to make a few readjustments," he stopped and his gaze flickered over to Matt.

"Ishida, you play lead guitar and are the lead singer?" Matt nodded in return. S gave him a slightly disapproving look and turned his head to Arial. "And you do nothing but sing back-up," he stated more the questioned.

"That's right, been that way for about two years since we've started this band." Arial nestled his chin into Tai's wild hair and blinked up at S. S shook his head at this and took off his sunglasses.

"Well, this is a new band, not your old garage band. From now on, Ishida, you'll be lead guitar and back-up singer and Natsaki, you're lead singer." Arial and Matt both gapped at the intimidating blonde man.

"Now wait a second, Mr.…S. You can't just abruptly change everything!" Matt protested. Quicker then usual, S whipped out his dagger and pointed it in the space right between Matt's eyes.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Ishida, but I'm your manager. I can do what I feel fit. And if you don't want to cooperate, you can always be replaced. Have I made myself clear?" S spoke in a low whisper, watching the blonde boy in front of his squirm slightly.

"Y-yes," Matt stuttered slightly. S smirked and pulled away, returning to his stationary spot in front of the TV.

"Are there any objections from you, Natsaki?" he asked the blue-haired teen who was still wide-eyed from what just happened with Matt, so it was of no surprise when he shook his head no.

"Good to know. This leaves Yagami as back-up guitar and vocals, Motomiya on drums, and Kinomita for bass. Understood?" The other three boys nodded wordlessly. "Good. Tomorrow, we will work out your music and such but for now, just remember to be down at TS Studios 10am sharp. Got it?"

"We got it already, jeeze." Tai rolled his eyes. S snorted lightly and slipped the dagger into his pocket.

"Glad we understand each other. Have a nice day boys." He nodded and swiftly walked over to the exit, leaving the apartment building quickly. The five boys remained in silence for a good ten minutes after S had left, each with their own thoughts in mind.

"Is it just me, or does anybody else find S to be really creepy…" Ryan spoke up first, shivering slightly at the thought.

"It's just you. Because he's down-right horrifying!" Daisuke exclaimed. Matt shook his head and got out of his chair.

"We have to listen to him though. He **is** our manager after all." He shrugged idly and walked off into his room. Ryan got up as well and headed for his own room, but not before throwing his best friend a harsh glare. Arial didn't miss it and gave Ryan a helpless look.

"You can come chill with me in my room until he calms down," Tai whispered into his ear. Arial nodded in agreement and the new couple got up, slowly waking towards the bedroom door.

"Wait a second, Tai. I want to talk to you." Daisuke's concerned tone caused the boy to halt in his place.

"It's okay, I'll meet you in there," Arial encouraged him to talk to Daisuke and disappeared into Tai's room, closing the door firmly behind him. Tai walked back over to Daisuke and gave him a questioning stare.

"Sit down." Daisuke pointed to the couch. Tai obliged and waited for him to continue.

"What's going on between you and Ari?" Daisuke blurted out bluntly. Tai squirmed under his heated stare again and lowered his eyes.

"Nothing really," he mumbled more to himself them to Daisuke.

"You consider making-out nothing?" A red-brown eyebrow shot up.

"Well I mean, he's kind of my boyfriend now." Daisuke shook his head and closed his eyes, hoping he hadn't just heard what he thought he heard.

"Pardon?" he said in a feeble attempt to cover up his surprise.

"I said he's my boyfriend. Is there something wrong with that?" Tai gathered enough courage to look up into Daisuke's eyes indignantly. Daisuke shook his head again and sighed.

"Damn him. Tai, look, you shouldn't attach yourself to Arial and since when are you not straight?" he changed the subject abruptly. Tai shrugged in return.

"After yesterday I just kind of got to thinking about things and how I had actually liked having him kiss me…" A new blush formed onto his face as he trailed off. Daisuke once more shook his head furiously.

"No no no! Tai, you can **not** date Arial," he insisted. His cousin narrowed his eyes briefly.

"Why not?"

"Because…listen." Daisuke sat on the couch next to the mud-eyed boy and continued talking. "Arial is a mutt."

"Eh?"

"Male slut. He has been since he discovered he was bi. We're pretty sure he's still a virgin, but don't expect him to remain faithful to you. He has a tendency to chase after anybody who catches his eye, even if he does have a girlfriend or boyfriend. He's cheated on so many people it's hard to keep track. Point being, I just don't want you getting hurt because he acts like a major dipshit," Daisuke finished his explanation. Tai gave Daisuke a look of disbelief and closed his eyes.

"Why does he do it?"

"That we're not too sure of. We think it's just because it's his nature to be flirty…but who knows. Point being, if you stay with him in a 'committed' relationship, you're going to get hurt. And I just don't want that. You deserve better," Daisuke finished, praying with all his might that his words had gotten through.

"I don't believe you." No such luck.

"Tai, you can't be serious!" Tai rose up from the couch and gave his cousin a glare.

"I am serious, Daisuke. I'm **not** going to let **your** opinion get in the way of something **I **want. So go tell someone who cares," Tai sneered and turned around, racing into his bedroom and shutting the door. Daisuke sighed and leaned his head back, staring at the white ceiling.

"Well shit, now he's probably going to tell Ari everything and he'll get mad at me too…what the hell am I suppose to do?" he asked himself. His eyes wandered over to the second bedroom door on the right-hand side of the apartment. With a curious expression, Daisuke wandered over to Ryan's door and knocked on it gently.

"Go to hell, Ri," the same gruff voice from before responded to his knock.

"Ry? It's me," Daisuke replied and waited. The door opened, much more slowly then the first time, and Ryan stood there leaning against the doorframe.

"What do you want, Dais," he spoke in a quiet voice, stating his words rather then asking them.

"Can we talk?" Daisuke ran a hand through his mahogany hair. The green-eyed boy nodded and swiftly stepped away from the door, leaving Daisuke to come in on his own accord. The slightly tanner boy closed the door behind him and sat in a chair next to the bed, where Ryan laid sprawled on his stomach.

"What's up?" he used that soft tone again, confirming all of Daisuke's suspicions that there was indeed something wrong.

"I should be asking you the same question…" he couldn't think of a way to finish his sentence. Ryan shrugged and looked at his bedspread.

"Did you know that Ari's dating your cousin?" he said off-handedly as he picked at a loose thread in his covers.

"I could have only guessed when I walked in on them kissing in Tai's room." Ryan shook his head sadly and gave a somewhat forced laugh.

"Well, sucks to be you then, doesn't it?" Daisuke shrugged in return and said nothing, plunging the room into silence. Ryan broke it with a deep breath and a sigh.

"I just don't get why he degrades himself like that, y'know? It's almost like he **enjoys** being a whore," he choked out another laugh and Daisuke could tell he was on the verge of hysteria. Silently, he leaned forward and clasped his friend's shoulder, letting him know he would continue to listen. "I know I shouldn't be so surprised but I mean, Tai's only been living here for like a week! He barely knows him and he asks him out! It just…argh! I feel like crying because of what he's doing to himself but I also feel like beating the shit out of him for what he's going to do to Tai." Daisuke snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Don't bother beating him up. It'll be Tai's own fault if he gets hurt."

"Why?"

"He told me that he didn't my warning. So he's risking it himself."

"Still…I feel slightly guilty."

"Ryan, don't go there."

"No, I really do." Ryan sat upright suddenly, his head just barely brushing the bottom of the bed above him.

"It's not your fault though. We've had this discussion many times, remember? Get it out of your head that you are responsible for what he does." Daisuke sighed slightly, knowing that it would take quite a bit of convincing on his part to make Ryan get it.

"I **am** responsible for him, Daisuke, including what he does. I have been since he first came to live with me and my family," Ryan defended his point and folded his hands into his lap.

"That was seven years ago though and you and I both know he was already screwed up at that point in his life."

"Meaning?"

"I have a strong feeling his mother influenced him in more ways then one, that's all."

"His mother was such a…" Ryan growled half-way though his statement and tensed up at the mere memory.

"We all know that. But the point is, you're not the guilty one here. Arial's just doing this on his own, and there's nothing we can do about it. The only way I suppose he could stop is if he really found somebody he was determined to stay with."

"Well, you and I both know that won't be happening any time soon." Ryan shook his head. Daisuke bit his lip and stood up, pulling Ryan with him.

"I have to do the grocery shopping this week. Why don't you come with me, since you're the one who does most of the cooking anyway?" the tanned boy suggested and began dragging Ryan out of the room and towards the front door without waiting for a reply. The two boys walked out into the hall and into the elevator, walking towards Ryan's car and taking off.

* * *

The night in the Wolves' apartment was rather stiff and they barely spoke, Tai and Arial attached at the hip and Daisuke and Ryan rather peeved. Matt was yet again clueless as to what was going on but ignored it like always. 

Needless to say, all five teenaged boys were grateful the day was over when they awoke on Sunday morning.

"Come on you guys, go get ready to leave! We have to be there in 45 minutes!" Matt announced as he went around the building, pounding on the different doors rather loudly. Arial groaned and buried his head under one of Tai's pillow. The other boy lying next to him cuddled up closer to the body warmth of the older boy. Arial opened his eyes and smiled down at Tai, sweeping away stray hair that fell into his face. Dark eyes fluttered open and stared up at him, watching him closely, yet admirably.

"Good morning!" Arial chirped and tossed a cheery smile at the brunet.

"Morning, Ri. Sleep well?" Tai yawned and shivered, burying himself deeper into the blankets. Arial nuzzled Tai's shoulder lightly and made a content purr-like noise.

"Of course I did…did you?" He didn't really care since he was more focused on how soft Tai's skin was but he thought it would be nice to ask out of courtesy.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Tai grinned in response and sat up, blinking at the blue-eyed boy.

"That's good to know." Arial continued nuzzling Tai, moving down to his bicep and then onto his chest.

"Ari, stop it!" Tai couldn't help but giggle at the touch, not really minding that Arial ignored his command of stop. The dominant boy worked his way down to Tai's stomach slowly, knowing very well that Tai was enjoying it as much as he was. Suddenly the door banged open and Matt poked his head into the room.

"Now please!" he pointed to the outside of the room and walked away, leaving the door wide open behind him. Arial pouted slightly and pulled away, climbing out of the bed first.

"We'll continue where that was going later." he winked and walked away, marching into the bathroom to shower. Tai followed the figure until it disappeared, sighing to himself and getting out of bed as well.

'_Damn you, Matt. Damn you to hell I say.'_ He continued cursing the blonde in his mind as he pulled on some pants. _'He just_ **had** _to go and interrupt a good thing. No surprises there, damn fun-sucker.' _He slipped on yet another black t-shirt and walked out into the living room where the 'fun-sucker' sat on the couch, all dressed up and ready to go.

'_Damn you, Ari. Damn you to hell I say!'_ The blonde growled subconsciously to himself. He was fully aware of Tai and Arial's relationship, and it made him mad. He himself wasn't quite sure why it made him made, but it did! Was it just because of the fact that Arial was so casual about going through one relationship after another? Or was it because he was reckless and careless about everything? He felt an extra weight add itself to the other end of the couch and looked over to his right. There sat Tai dressed in a baggy pair of camouflage and a black t-shirt.

'_Wonder if he owns anything besides black?'_ Matt inwardly chuckled and studied the shirt. On the front was a picture of a red Mustang convertible and the words All-American Rejects above it. He nodded in approval and moved on to other things.

It wasn't his fault that the kid was goddamn gorgeous. He didn't particularly appreciate his attitude, but he was a pretty thing to look out.

'_But no, of _**course**_ Arial had to nail him first. Stupid whore.'_ He involuntarily gritted his teeth as he picked a piece of imaginary fuzz off of his own shirt. Even though it was his own fault, and he knew he shouldn't be blaming Arial anyway, he couldn't help but feel a slight disgust at the idea of those two being an item. Then again, nobody knew he was gay to begin with, so he couldn't exactly publicize that disgust. Not in the way he wanted to at any rate, which mostly involved,_ 'Arial! Back off of my boy-toy, you little slut! He's mine! He deserves someone who's not so damn feminine like you! For I am the almighty Yamato, ha, ha, ha, ha!' _Oh, how that image enticed him.

"What?" Tai's angry tone burst in through Matt's pensive cloud, causing him to meet the younger guitarist's eyes. Matt shook his head and smirked; ignoring the fact that he had caught him off-guard.

"Just trying to see if you're still a virgin or if Ari knocked you up on the first night," he snickered slightly while Tai sent him a disapproving look.

"I heard that!" Arial's voice rang out from the bathroom.

"Jokes, Ri, jokes." Matt held up his hands in mock-defense and leaned back into the couch, just as Daisuke and Ryan came walking out, both speaking to one another in hushed whispers. They both sat on the couch between Tai and Matt and kept talking lowly. So low, in fact, Matt couldn't hear a single word they were saying and he was sitting right there.

'_Are they even actually saying words still?'_ He felt his eyebrow starting to rise up but quickly suppressed it, knowing that it was becoming a rather bad habit of his.

"Ari, hurry up and let's get going! We're going to be late and it will be all your fault!" Ryan laughed as his best friend sped out of the bathroom and into his own room, returning into the living room with two different-colored socks and his new Vans he bought a week earlier.

"Um, I was just joking." Ryan gave him a strange grin. Arial shot a playful glare at him and threw one of his dirty socks at Ryan's nose.

"Ew!" Ryan all but shrieked as he scrambled away from the sock, flinging it across the apartment.

"Jetaryane, I swear, there are times you're more girly then Ari." Daisuke shook his head sadly, trying to hide his grin.

"Hey! I'm not girly!" Arial protested and chucked the other sock at Daisuke. Not phased in the least, Daisuke picked the sock up from his shoulder and dropped it behind the couch calmly.

"You're named after a freakin' mermaid. If that's **not** girly, I'm not sure what is," he returned to his previous point.

"Aw, it's not girly," Matt joined the conversation suddenly with an evil glint in his eye. A glint that Arial didn't even notice at that matter.

"Thank you, Matt." Arial nodded at his comrade and tugged on his shoes.

"It's fruity." A wide grin crossed the blonde's face. Daisuke and Ryan both started howling with laughter as the fruity-mermaid boy sat on the floor with a narrowed gaze.

"It is **not** fruity! It's a damn font on a word processor!" Arial frowned and looked up at Tai.

"Tai, make them stop picking on me!" he begged in a childish voice, tugging on the boy's pant leg twice. Tai couldn't control his smile and he also began to laugh lightly.

"Sorry, hun, but it **is** kind of fruity." Tai winked to show he was joking but didn't stop laughing. Arial groaned and stood up as he gave each of his friends a spiteful glare.

"I hate you all," he grunted and headed out the front door, quickly to be followed by his still-laughing band mates.

* * *

The crowd of five arrived at the tall business building known as Tinker Sounds Studios. They pushed and shoved each other into the elevator and rode up to the seventh floor: the recording studio. S was waiting for them just outside of the door, seizing them all by the collar (and none of them could figure out how he possibly grabbed all five of them simultaneously) and stormed into the recording studio, knocking each of them into a foldable chair. 

"About time you fools got here! You're 15 minutes late!" He yelled, flailing his limbs in all directions.

"Oh, get over it. We're here now." Tai was beginning to prove he had no patience for the odd blonde man and he slumped down into his chair, liking the feel of Arial massaging his shoulders.

"Right. The first thing we're going to do is explain our plans for you," S continued on.

"We?" Matt asked and once again had to suppress an eyebrow raise.

"Yes, we." S snapped his fingers and glanced at the door. Through it came a young male with dark red hair sticking up in varying directions; much like Tai's but shorter. Very much shorter. His deep brown, practically black eyes wandered over each of the Wolves and he nodded in approval, slipping into a chair next to S. He appeared to be about Daisuke's age and he was dressed professionally, clad in a pair of black pants, a green blazer, white shirt, and standard black tie.

"This is my business partner, Izumi Koushiro. He will be helping me keep you under reigns, and he will also serve as Taichi's tutor," S introduced the redhead to the group of young males.

"Tutor!" Tai suddenly exploded, staring back at S as if he was insane, which if you thought about it, was a very high possibility.

"Yes, tutor. If this band becomes a flop somewhere along the way, we want you to have a diploma so you can get a job in the real world. He will also help Daisuke in his last month so that we can have you both in the studio as often as possible and he can still graduate." S knew he was agitating the guitarist, but quite frankly, he didn't give a damn. In fact, it was quite the contrary. He was **enjoying** watching the brunet get angry.

"Who says the band will flop though? We absolutely rock!" Tai smirked with a hint of arrogance.

'_Oh my god, he's turning into Matt.' _Daisuke buried his face into his hands.

'_Holy shit, he's turning into me.'_ Matt sighed and decided to step in.

"Tai, the band may very well flop. We don't know anything yet, so stop being so stubborn about what S is saying," he drawled out, knowing very well that Tai would freak out again. The brunet began to open his mouth but suddenly closed it again, sighing slightly in defeat. Tossing yet another satisfied smirk at the boy, Matt turned back to S expectantly.

"As you were saying?" he urged the manager to continue.

"As I was saying, I believe it's time for Koushiro to explain our motive." S waved a hand vaguely at his accomplice, who in turn cleared his throat importantly.

"The first thing I would like to say is that it's a pleasure meeting you in person. S brought in a sample of your music and I can honestly say I was highly pleased."

"Wait, you're **his** boss?" Ryan gave him a clearly doubtful look.

"That I am, Mr…" Koushiro trailed off, not sure where to go from there.

"Kinomita. Jetaryane. Actually just screw the other two names and call me Ryan, kay? Thanks," Ryan said breezily. A tad taken-aback by Ryan's wording, Koushiro sniffed and continued.

"Right. Anyway, yes, I am S's boss, so truthfully, most of what he does to you boys is under my order."

"Does that include the sharp dagger-thingy? Cause that thing is **really** scary," Arial pointed out the obvious. Koushiro gave his partner a skeptical look.

"Dagger?" S tugged at his collar and grinned.

"Well, you said to get them down here by any means possible," he chuckled slightly. Koushiro smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand and shook his head.

"I didn't mean to **threaten** them, you idiot!" he rolled his eyes and sighed. He looked over the five boys who all had their eyes trained on the pair of officials.

"Although, you **did** get them here. That's the only reason I won't fire you." Koushiro informed the older blonde man.

"Then again, you keep threatening to fire me, but you never do!" S grinned at Koushiro with that same psychotic grin.

"Would you like me to?" the redhead spoke in a warning tone. S's eyes widened and he shook his head furiously.

"No, no, no! S be good!" he insisted and hugged himself in his chair, looking back and forward between the band and his boss. Koushiro's face turned into a look of annoyance and disbelief, smacking S over the head lightly.

"Stop clowning around and help me explain this!" he shouted at S and threw him a glare, facing the Wolves once more. "All right. S and I have been listening through your music and we've decided on what type of band you will be."

"We already know what kind of band we want to be though!" Daisuke interrupted him.

"Yeah, we're a rock band, remember?" Arial grinned at the two formal men, both of whom just shook their heads.

"Not **just** rock. We'll have you boys playing everything from rock, punk, alternative, and even a little bit of pop," S remarked cautiously, obviously with Koushiro's threat still fresh in his mind.

"Pop…no way! Pop is for those stupid pretty-boys who can't play instruments to save their girly asses!" Matt was now the one becoming enraged.

"Oh, you mean like yourself, Matt?" Tai inquired innocently as he tried to mask a smirk.

"Take that back, kid," Matt growled out in return.

"Make me, Blondie. You would only deny it if it was true!"

"Fuc-"

"Stop! You're not going to get anywhere if you two keep fighting, get it?" Koushiro stopped Matt's stream of profanity. The leader and the youngest member of the band threw each other one last glare before looking away, falling back into the old habit of ignoring one another.

"As I was saying, pop, not pop music, but sort of poppy lyrics, okay? You'll keep your instruments and sound because you're supposed to be a band for crying out loud! What kind of band would you be without instruments hmm?" Koushiro spoke rhetorically before standing up, walking over to a computer in the far corner of the room. Tapping the mouse twice, he brought up a program on the big screen in front of them.

"Now, the first things we are going to do today involve the creation of your debut CD."

"Already? Awesome!" Tai cheered despite the fact he was suppose to stay quiet. Koushiro merely nodded and went through a few more pages, stopping at a page made of a datasheet that held 20 empty slots.

"Let me guess, play list?" Matt also spoke after he had been told to shut up.

"Actually, it's a list of songs to put on your CD. Now, as for what songs go on there, that is strictly your own choice. You choose your songs, we approved them, we record them and slap them on the disc. Sound fair?" S eagerly jumped back into the conversation.

"Yeah, sounds fair. But how long will that take us?" Daisuke leaned on his knees, propping his head up with his hands.

"If you boys come into the studio six days a week from 9am to 5pm for at least the next two and a half weeks, I'd say that long. But **only** if you work hard and **don't** screw around!" Koushiro took over again, directing his last phrase to Matt and Tai.

"Let's do it then! Not like we really have a choice, but hey, it makes me feel better deciding something!" Arial said in a cheerful voice, already bouncing onto his feet.

"Glad you feel that way, Natsaki. Are you all ready to start today?" S asked rhetorically and stood up as well.

"Might as well be." Daisuke stretched his arms behind his head and rose up, stifling a yawn as he went.

"Let's do it then," Matt repeated Arial and the last three boys got up as well, heading into the far recording studio.

* * *

The recording process was not as easy as they thought it would be. They would often spend the entire eight hours of the day working on one song, maybe even a little more then that. Some songs were easier however and that lifted their spirits. As for the managers… 

"And stop!" Koushiro yelled to S as Matt strummed out the last few notes. Arial leaned on the microphone stand heavily, attempting to catch his breath. Why they had agreed to save the Party Song for last, he could never be sure. The plus side was they were finally finished with their CD. On the downside though, they had to record and stop Party Song at least six times before they could settle on the right version.

"Are you going to live, Blue?" Ryan teased his buddy and threw him a bottle of water. Arial glared at him lightly and chugged half of the bottle, throwing it back at Ryan roughly.

"I'd like to see **you** try and sing that damned song seven times!" he panted and sank to the floor as he watched his band mates pack up.

"Hey, you weren't the only one singing, love," Tai reminded him as his kissed his nose, slinging his guitar strap over his shoulder.

"Yeah, but all you and Matt were doing is da-na-na. That doesn't even count!" Arial argued back but didn't object the show of affection.

"Yeah, well what about some of the other songs we put on the CD?" Matt joined in as he shoved all of the lyric sheets into a black folder.

"Like I did all of the singing for Grow Up while you and Matt did back-up!" Tai spoke up again.

"And I did Hands Down. So you really have nothing to complain about, Ri. Get over it." Matt smirked and walked over to Koushiro and S to determine the final product.

"What is this, Pick-On-Ari Day?" The bluenette didn't even bother standing as he crawled over to the same corner.

"**Everyday** is Pick-On-Ari Day," Daisuke snickered and shoved his drumsticks into one of his many pockets, scooting his stool over to the others.

"Mean!"

"All right, listen up!" S hollered and reached into his pocket.

"You pull out that dagger I'm kicking you out," Koushiro mildly warned him, but enough to draw his hand away.

"Now, we have 20 songs on your CD. Some soft, some hard, some just plain strange, but they all turned out wonderful. Congratulations, Wolves," Koushiro continued with a warm smile, holding up the final master CD.

"Woohoo! We have a CD!" Ryan whooped and danced around the room.

"Think people will like it?" Tai sat on the floor next to Ari and looked up at Koushiro expectantly.

"Well, that's all up to you boys. As long as you dumped all of your heart and talent into the music, they'll love you," S offered his words of encouragement, which was quite a surprise coming from a scary freak like himself.

"However, you need a name for your CD," Koushiro interrupted.

"A name? I thought you came up with the names," Daisuke interjected and scratched at his ear.

"Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. We figured since it was your first CD, you should be able to name it," the redhead explained slowly.

"…so what should we call it?" Arial asked and the four boys turned back to their former leader. Matt blinked in surprise and tilted his head sideways.

"Why are you asking me?" He choked out, feeling unusually nervous under the four intense stares.

"Well, you used to be in charge of everything. **Surely** you'd have a name," Ryan spoke for the whole group who nodded in back-up support. Matt swallowed lightly and bit on his lower lip, allowing his thoughts to race through his mind.

"Well, it should be something that catches the audience's attention," he said as he stalled further.

"He's got a good point. We need people to spot the title and say, 'Ooh, hey, that sounds like a cool band!' if that makes sense. It's like when a person picks out a book, they look at the title first," Tai rambled on senselessly. Matt shook his head at the kid's attention span and snapped his fingers.

"Got it."

"What is it?" Daisuke looked back at the blonde and awaited the results of everything.

"Ending On a Bad Note," Matt said triumphantly. Silence followed his statement as each boy let the title tumble in their mind, negative and positive ideas attaching themselves to it.

"Don't you think that if they read that as a title, they're going to think we sound bad?" Tai spoke up first, giving the blue-eyed boy a doubtful look.

"Nope. It's all reverse psychology." Matt leaned against the back wall and looked at Koushiro and S for approval.

"What do **you** know about psychology?" Arial gave Matt another doubtful look, very similar to Tai's.

"More then you would ever know," came the airy reply that brushed around the subject. "So what do you think?" he changed his focus onto the officials.

"I like your thinking," S said immediately. Koushiro took longer to reach his decision, rubbing his chin in thought as the five boys and S watched him like a hawk. Slowly, but surely, he nodded.

"Fine. Title it and we'll let somebody else deal with the cover art." He waved his hands vaguely and shoved the final disc into an empty CD case. Handing it to S, he also gave him an envelope and a few stamps.

"Send it into publishing. They should have all copies made within two days," he ordered to his assistant and turned back to the boys.

"You are all free to go until we call again when the CDs arrive. If things go as planned, you will have plenty of fans by the end of next week. Set up interviews, concerts, possibly start making music videos. All which will lead up to your fame."

"Fame…" Arial grinned despite himself.

"Music Videos…" Tai said dreamily.

"Fans!" Ryan and Daisuke squealed at the same time before giving each other odd glances for squealing at all.

"Concerts." Matt smirked and pushed himself away from the wall. "Then we shall come back later." He waved off Koushiro and walked towards the door. "Let's go," he beckoned the rest of the band. Tai and Arial scrambled up and trotted after their leader, followed by the drummer and the bassist.

"Have a nice day, boys." Koushiro waved and shut the door behind them. Ambling into the area that was his office, he sat in his chair and sighed contently.

"I think we may have just found our newest goldmine." He nodded assuredly and went back to business, pushing the Wolves into the back of his mind.

* * *

The following Sunday was grocery-shopping day for the Wolves, just a mere six days after they released their CD. Naturally, Matt was driving because Ryan was compiling a list of items they needed, Arial couldn't drive, Tai couldn't drive either, and Daisuke was still mourning the loss of his own car and blatantly refused to drive. 

"Hey, Matt, turn up the radio!" Daisuke yelled from the backseat where he sat in between Arial and Tai, which Ryan assumed was to make sure they didn't start doing anything in the backseat of Matt's black Honda Accord. Matt rolled his eyes at the childish request but obeyed, snapping on the button and turning up the volume.

And was he glad he did. The guitar playing started and faded in and out, followed by drums.

"Breaking my back just to know your name, seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game," Arial's voice blared through the speakers. The song played on, sounding just like it had back in the studio, only better. It was a shame when it ended.

"And that was new music called Somebody Told Me by The Teenage Wolves. Hey, has anybody heard anything about these guys? New to the music world, go check 'em out! Up next is Hoobastank with Same Direction, stay tuned!" the DJ announced and Matt pushed the button in. All five of them blinked in question at the radio.

"Was that just us…" Ryan started off.

"On the radio…" Daisuke added.

"Wow. That's so cool!" Arial cheered and bounced around the back seat.

"It feels so weird, knowing that it's us." Tai kept glancing at the radio.

"Well, get used to it, kid. We're famous now." Matt shrugged nonchalantly and pulled into the parking lot, shutting the car off and getting out. The other four piled out and followed him inside and so began the process of throwing random things into the car and ignoring Ryan's protests about what they needed.

"Ice cream!" Tai dropped two boxes of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream into the cart.

"No!" Ryan threw one of the boxes back into the freezer and exchanged it with a bag of frozen chicken.

"Marshies!" Arial chucked five packages of colored marshmallows in after the ice cream.

"You don't need those!" Ryan replaced four of the packages with two jars of peanut butter.

"Pizza!" Daisuke threw in three frozen pizzas.

"You don't…oh hell keep them!" Ryan grumbled and tossed in frozen vegetables and some milk.

"Oh cheer up, Ry. It's not so terrible, now is it?" Matt winked and set two loaves of bread into the basket.

"Why are you suddenly so…Anti-Matt?" Ryan raised an eyebrow at the blonde's new attitude. Matt shrugged cheerfully and continued walking next to Ryan.

"I guess I'm just happy we're finally where we are, that's all." He grinned and threw other things into the cart. Ryan merely nodded and looked around.

"Where did the rest of them get to?" His eyes darted around the rest of the food department and his gaze wandered to the other end of the store.

"Most likely they're just goofing around, aren't they?" Matt replied and kept walking.

"Guys! Look!" Tai suddenly came barreling out from behind a display case of Pepsi and crashed into the inside of the basket, landing on the butter and narrowly missing the eggs.

"Tai! Watch it!" Ryan yelped as he moved away his precious eggs.

"Sorry, don't care. Look!" the brunet repeated himself once more. Daisuke and Arial came racing around the corner as well and they both held squares in their hands.

"What?" Matt asked and looked at the object Tai had.

"Fame!" Arial squeaked and waved his around. Ryan snatched up the flat square and his mouth formed into a surprised 'oh!' shape.

"CD! We actually have our CD in stores already!" Daisuke joined in with the excited chatter. Matt stole his copy and looked at it closely. The cover was black with silver letters that said their name and the title of the CD along with a pair of yellow wolf eyes and fangs, only seen in the lighter background.

"Impressive art. Simple, yet impressive," he praised whoever created it and flipped over to the back side. The back was also black with a silver moon covering most of it, followed by the names of their tracks in the same bold silver writing.

_1.) Somebody Told Me_

_2.) Grow Up! _

_3.) Online Song_

_4.) Vacation_

_5.) Fat Lip_

_6.) 1985_

_7.) Giving Up On Love_

_8.) Hands Down_

_9.) Predictable_

_10.) My Own Worst Enemy_

_11.) Falling For the First Time_

_12.) Bouncing Off the Walls_

_13.) Failure's Not Flattering_

_14.) Memory_

_15.) Boys of Summer_

_16.) The Best of Me_

_17.) The Art of Losing_

_18.) Beautiful Soul_

_19.) In Love With The 80s_

_20.) The Party Song_

"How many copies were left?" he asked the excited younger boys.

"Quite a few," Daisuke replied truthfully.

"But people were grabbing them and putting them in their carts!" Tai beamed and attempted to climb out of their own cart.

"So we should probably go and put these back…come on guys!" Arial took the cart from Ryan's possession and, with Tai still sitting in it, took off running down to the other end of the store, the other three chasing after him closely. Almost managing to collide into a stand of body sprays and tipping over three boxes of cat food, they reached the electronic section of the store and casually ambled into the CD section. The three placed the CDs back into the shelves and began to walk away.

"Hey!" They turned around and spotted two teenage girls standing there, both with a copy of their CD in their hands.

"Does that mean they're not very good?" the one with brown hair asked, switching over to read the back side.

"Oh, no! Why would you ask that?" Tai's head shot up from inside the shopping basket.

"Well, you just put back the CDs…" the second girl with orange-red hair trailed off.

"Oh, well, we already have their CD and we were just showing the art to our friend." Daisuke pointed at Matt.

"Big art critic," Ryan added in, falling gracefully into the act.

"So…they are good?" the first girl asked slowly.

"Oh yeah, definitely. Their songs are fantastic, real mix of different styles." Matt nodded assuredly. The two girls looked at one another and dropped the CDs into their separate hand-baskets.

"Thanks for the advice, fellas!" The second one winked and they both walked away, heading towards the shoe department. The band watched them walk away silently, blinking only once or twice.

"Y'know, if the band ever fails, we could become salesmen!" Arial grinned enthusiastically.

"Shut up, Ari!" The bluenette was promptly rewarded with four bashes to the head with fluffy white pillows the others had grabbed off the shelves, causing the whole stack to fall to the ground.

"You little punks! What the hell do you think you're doing!" A clerk spotted them not too far away.

"…run, run very fast. Now!" Matt instructed them and they all took off running with their groceries forgotten.

* * *

"We have a concert? Like, a real live concert!" Matt squeaked out at the sudden news. It was Tuesday, just a few days after their grocery store incident. The band had been called back to TS Studios and S had just delivered the great news. 

"That's right. It's just a community concert in the park, just to see how people react to you. Charge will only be five bucks so it's not a total waste of money."

"Hey! We are **not** a waste!" Tai pouted at the statement.

"I didn't say you were, nimrod. Now, it's being held Friday, so I trust that you can be ready to go by then?" Matt nodded in response and shared a glance with Arial. After all, he **was** the new lead singer. But then again, he was still the ultimate leader. The other blue-eyed boy nodded at the silent question Matt had asked him.

"We'll be ready. Thanks for the warning at least." The blonde stood up from his chair and the other boys followed him, waving their goodbyes and walking out the door.

"Concert! This isn't just something little guys, it's huge!" Arial continued to babble as they piled into the elevator, riding it down to the ground level.

"We know, Ari. We heard him say it too," Ryan said calmly and chose to ignore his friend's hyper behavior.

"It's just so exciting though!" Tai backed his boyfriend up and linked their hands, walking out of the elevator first and strolling to Matt's car. Matt had every intention to hit the panic button on his key ring to activate his car alarm, just to scare the crap out of the two love-sick puppies and pull them apart.

'_Just so sickening. And yet, I would probably do that same thing if I was Blue.' _He shook his head and dismissed the array of thoughts, climbing into the driver's seat of his car.

"It **is** exciting, but don't get too worked up. You'll wind up with a really bad case of nerves when we get there and then you won't know what to do. So don't get **too** terribly excited," Daisuke warned his cousin and slid into the back seat, leaving Ryan the passenger seat.

"Yeah, sure, Daisuke. I'll be fine." Tai waved his hand vaguely and went back to chatting with Arial about the concert. Daisuke sighed quietly and slumped in his seat. Raising his eyes, he caught Matt's gaze in the rearview mirror, sending his own signal of sympathy to the tanner boy. Giving him a half-smile, Daisuke broke the gaze and looked out the window, not really caring what was happening in the outside world.

Matt pulled into the parking lot of the apartment building and they all got out, going through the elevator procedure once more and bursting through their front door.

"Dare I even mention practicing?" Matt asked as he dropped his keys on the little table next to the door.

"Nope," Ryan and Arial spoke simultaneously and jumped over the back of the couch, flipping the TV on to a baseball game.

"Somehow, I didn't think so." Matt shrugged off his black trench coat and grabbed a bottle of cola from the fridge, joining his two friends on the couch. Tai sauntered up to Arial and dropped himself in his lap, waiting for the bluenette to notice him.

"Ari…wouldn't you rather come back to my room instead of watching this game?" he said in a breathless voice, batting his eyelashes at him coyly.

"Busy. Game. TV," Arial replied and moved Tai over onto his other side so his hair wasn't blocking his view. A grin split the brunet's face and he nodded.

"Good because I'd rather watch the game anyway," he dropped his act quickly and focused his attention on the screen in front of him. Daisuke leaned on the back of the couch from behind it, staring rather blankly at the players.

"I'll be in my room studying if anyone needs me," he spoke up and silently slipped away, closing the door behind him. The only one who really noticed was Matt, only for the mere fact that Daisuke avoided studying at all costs.

But then again, there really wasn't much he could do, was there?

* * *

"Here it is guys, Friday. Are we ready?" Matt breathed out a breath of anxiety and fixed the collar of his white short-sleeved button-down. His hair was done up in their normal floppy spikes and he wore regular black slacks that matched the black long-sleeved shirt under his white button-down. 

"I don't see how you can be wearing sleeves when it's so nice outside!" Arial chirped as he danced around backstage, decked out in a short-sleeved Green Day t-shirt, along with his black and blue loose pants, held up by a white belt.

"Because it will get colder as the night goes on," Ryan answered for the blonde as he messed up his hair even more. The bassist wore a red shirt that had black bold print across the front reading "Of Course I Believe in Evolution: Just Look at Your Mom" and a pair of khaki pants.

"Aren't those Dai's?" Matt asked the black-haired boy. Ryan nodded and pulled a black thread off of his shirt.

"My pants weren't dry by the time we had to leave, so y'know, he let me borrow his."

"Why didn't you just wear another pair of yours?"

"Because Ryan's stupid enough to wash all of his pants at the same time." Arial grinned at his best friend.

"Hey now, at least I wash only most of my boxers at the same time," Ryan spoke in his defense.

"Oh, I see we've learned from the naked grilled cheese accident?" Arial's grin grew wider as Ryan's face grew redder.

"Stop talking. Now," he said firmly and looked away from Matt, who was giving him a curious look.

"Naked grilled cheese accident?"

"Shut up!"

Meanwhile, Daisuke was on the prowl for his cousin. Their show started in 20 minutes and if he didn't find him, well, they were kind of screwed over.

"Kind of being an understatement," he growled to himself and pushed his way into the Men's public bathroom. The sound volume plunged from extremely loud crowds of people to creepy silence.

"Tai…are you in here?" Daisuke said warily as he stepped in further. A small cough answered him and he walked down to the last stall where Tai was sitting on the ground looking paler then usual.

"What's up?" Daisuke stayed on the outside of the stall, afraid to look at any damage Tai had done to the water.

"I can't go out there…" Tai trailed off slowly.

"Why not?"

"**Way** too many people. A lot more then I thought there'd be…" Daisuke sighed and shook his head.

"You got too worked up, didn't you?"

"…maybe."

"What's going on?" Arial's voice rang out from the entrance. Daisuke looked up and motioned for his friend to move closer.

"Stage Fright," he replied simply. Arial nodded and stepped in, squatting down next to Tai.

"You okay?" Tai shook his head slightly and sighed.

"I can't go…"

"Stop saying can't," Arial said firmly and pulled his boyfriend to his feet.

"Ari, stop it!" Tai protested as his world spun around. Arial shook his head in disgrace and continues marching out of the bathroom.

"Take off your shirt." The absurd command threw Tai, and Daisuke for that matter, off-guard.

"What?" Tai said dumbly, allowing himself to be dragged behind the determined blue-haired male.

"Take off your shirt. You got vomit on it and you are **not** going on stage like that!" Arial sighed in frustration and pulled the shirt off himself.

"Hey!" Tai shrieked and wrapped his arms around his chest and boyish torso the best he could. Arial stood there and blinked quietly.

"Well, you could have said that you weren't wearing another shirt…" he said finally.

"I thought it was obvious! Since it was a t-shirt!" Tai yelled in his fit of rage and embarrassment as he seemed to forget about the large crowd of people.

"Where have you three been!" Ryan hissed as he led them back onto the area behind the small stage.

"And why aren't you wearing a shirt?" Matt's voice asked from behind him. Tai looked up behind Ryan and spotted the blue-eyed boy standing there, staring intently into his own mud-colored eyes.

'_When he's not yelling at me, he's actually not so bad…'_ He immediately batted away that thought.

"I kind of let my nerves get to me," Tai said softly and tore away his gaze. Matt nodded slightly and took off his white over-shirt. Without looking back at the brunet, he handed it to him.

"Happens to the best of us." He shrugged and walked away, grabbing his guitar up off the floor. Blinking at the retreating figure, Tai slid into the shirt, which he found to be only slightly baggy on him, and buttoned up all of the buttons except for the top three.

"I think he was actually being nice…" Arial trailed off briefly. Tai nodded and stepped onto the stage after Matt.

"Come on guys, we have a show to do." He gave the remaining three a shaky smile and took a deep breath, turning around to grab his guitar.

"He's right, let's go." Daisuke nodded and hopped up into his drummer stool, giving the drums a few test hits. Arial walked up to the microphone and Ryan to his bass, just as the MC stood in front of the crowd on the other side of the curtain.

"Hello and welcome to the show! I'd like you all to clap your hands and welcome, The Teenage Wolves!" the man said and the curtains were drawn back.

"Note, I vote we get a new MC," Ryan snorted at the lameness and plugged the amp into his instrument. Arial nodded in agreement and smiled at the crowd.

"Hey, hey lovely people! Natsaki here, welcoming you to tonight's show! I'm pretty sure plenty of you have gone out and bought our CD already, and if you haven't, what's wrong with you? Go! Now! Show some love for the poor bums known as the Teenage Wolves! But maybe you'd like a sample first, hmm? Yes, I would too. That being said, hit it!" Arial ended his little spiel and pointed at Daisuke to start drumming and Ryan to start playing as well as he began to sing.

"This may never start, we could fall apart, and I'd be your memory. Lost your sense of fear, feelings insincere, can I be your memory?" The words flew out from pale pink lips, getting the audience to bob their heads to the sound and begin to sing along to the chorus. The song began to wind down but the crowd was just warming up.

"Can I be your memory? Can I be your memory?" The last few guitar notes from Matt and Tai faded as the music was replaced by applauds and cheers. Arial grinned at the crowd and cocked an eyebrow in a flirty manner.

"See, **this** is why you should buy us. Well, not **us** us, but our CD. Glad you liked that song, by the way. And now, I think we should slow down the hype a bit and play a song that you may already be familiar with." Arial dropped the eyebrow and nodded at Ryan who began to strum out heavy sounds, followed by Matt's guitar music fading in and out in the background as they began to belt out "Somebody Told Me." The evening went on and they played about nine songs from their CD before the park manager told them to wrap it up.

"Well folks, sorry to say, we gotta run. But it's been fun, no? We'll come back soon, but in the meantime, if you're just **cravin'** our sweet sound, check out your local music store. We should be in the 'hot' section." Arial winked at the crowd and more cheers followed.

"Should be? More like we **dominate** the hot section, am I right?" Matt got into the act as more screams of excitement filled the night air.

"That's what I though. Good night everybody!" Matt smirked and blew a kiss to his fans. No wait, their fans. They were a band now. And nothing could ever change that.

* * *

"Kou, why are we here? It's 8am on a Saturday and we shouldn't have another concert scheduled so soon," Matt explained his theories through a few yawns and slumped into his chair. 

"Yeah, it's only been a week since we had our one in the park," Arial agreed and curled up in his own chair, tucking his feet under him.

"I realize that boys, but we have a few things we would like to show you," Koushiro explained in his usual 'oh-so-calm' manner. Snapping his fingers once, S came running into the room with two sheets of poster board and a large pointing stick.

"Here you go, sir." He handed all three items to Koushiro and sat on the end of the row of boys, facing his boss attentively.

"Thank you, S." Koushiro nodded and propped the first piece of poster board onto his easel. "Now, this red line here is your number of sales on CDs." Koushiro smacked the pointing stick onto the board at the red line that barely reached 7,000 sales.

"This is your popularity." He then smacked a black line on the board which reached 15 percent.

"That's not too terrible, is it?" Tai asked quietly and leaned his head on Arial's shoulder.

"Of course not. But now," Koushiro switched out poster boards and grinned. "Now your sales have reached up to 15,000 CDs and your popularity rate is at 35 percent." He absolutely beamed in happiness.

"And this is all in one week's difference," Ryan inquired rhetorically.

"That's right. Right after your concert, your sales more then doubled, as did your popularity amongst young people today! Do you realize what this means?" Koushiro was on the verge of completely ripping at the seams due to his thrills.

"Um…that we rock?" Daisuke answered plainly, seeing how it made perfect sense anyway.

"Not just that, Daisuke. You're not stay in Odaiba anymore boys. We're taking you straight to the top! If this can happen in a week-" Koushiro stabbed at his poster once more, "then think of what could happen in a month! Think of it boys, traveling Japan on tour, concerts every week or so, literally thousands of screaming fans, and maybe even the land of gold."

"You mean Tokyo Disney?" Tai exclaimed suddenly, hanging onto Koushiro's every word. The older man's face fell into a look of impatience and annoyance as he sighed.

"No, Tai, not Tokyo Disney-"

"Aw, but I wanna go to Tokyo Disney!" Tai whined and his lips formed into a pout.

"If you would let me finish!" That made him shut up.

"Now, as I was saying, you could go big boys, maybe even the land of gold. That's right, America." Koushiro relaxed now that he had said what he said.

"Are you **serious?**" Daisuke's eyes nearly bulged out of his face.

"I haven't been there since I left…" Arial smiled to himself.

"You really think we could make it that far." Ryan glanced up at the redhead standing in front of them.

"Oh, you'd have to get more popular in Japan first, but that shouldn't take too long. Then yes, I do believe you could. Just have to keep working at it."

"Wow…America." Tai's eyes filled with little stars at the mere thought of a whole other country.

"Matt, what do you think?" Daisuke finally remembered the blonde sitting in the far corner of the room listening to the conversation closely. A small smile threatened his lips as he glanced over his band mates.

"Well…" he started off, stopping longer just to make them sweat.

"Come on, Matt! Say something!" Arial begged him and kept his gaze locked. The small smile grew wider and Matt laughed. Not a snicker, but a genuine laugh, one that took them all by surprise. Eyes still wide, they waited for the leader to calm down patiently, and he began to speak.

"What do I think? I think we just found a new goal to work for." He nodded once in confirmation and all four of his friends tackled him to the floor, celebrating their so-far great success and creating plans to keep that success alive.

* * *

Edited, booyah bitches. J/k. That feels better now. Songs used were Somebody Told Me by The Killers and Memory by Sugarcult. HOPEFULLY, I'll post a new chapter soon. 


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